National Treasure: USA
by Aoi Dragon
Summary: She volunteers for the expedition to find The Charlotte. However, she is soon dragged in to her best friend's dream to find the USA's National Treasure.
1. On the Crew

Aoi Dragon: Well, I finally got my _National Treasure_ fic up. Now Sean Bean can stop bothering me and I can go back to my _Red Eye _fan fiction. This is pretty much a rewrite of the movie and there's a small change in Sean Bean's character that makes him seem nicer. Please R&R!

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_This is it. _Ben thought. _I've finally found the Charlotte and I may even find my treasure._ He grinned at the thought once he got off the phone with Riley Poole who was spending most of his time programming a tracking device to find the lost ship. _With Ian's money and Riley's computer we won't have any trouble._ Suddenly his cell phone rang, "Hello?"

"Benjamin Gates, how dare you keep me out of your news! I had to hear it from your blog!" An accented woman's voice yelled at him on the other end.

"Kelly?" Ben questioned, "Kelly O'Bryan, how did you get my cell number?"

"I just told you. You're blog!" Kelly said with a smile in her voice, "And I'm thinking you need a ride to the arctic."

"That would be useful." Ben nodded, "Why? Have you earned your pilots license while in Sheffield?"

"Just because I had a summer job in Sheffield doesn't mean I live there now." Kelly's voice seemed to scowl, "I live in London now."

"Well, you've developed that British accent." Ben said, "It reminds me of one of my co-worker's accents. Maybe you know him, Ian Howe?"

"Nope. Never heard of him." Kelly answered, "Anyways, I did get my pilot's license and it's gotten me to some pretty high class places and people… having my own plane and all…"

"I bet." Ben nodded, "So you can fly us there and drop us off when we get to the place where we're getting our snow plows?"

"I'll come with you, if you like." Kelly said, "I'm not a completely useless blonde. In fact, I'm almost a red head now. Strawberry blonde, you could say." She paused, "Oh god, I do sound British!"

Ben laughed, "You've been there too long!"

"Yeah, well, anyways, I could help you with the ship stuff." Kelly said, "My Dad was a navy admiral. He knew everything about ships and almost sent my brother AND me off to navy boot camp. Good thing I fled to England."

"I never really liked your Dad." Ben shrugged, "He reminded me of Captain Von Trapp… Except with out the singing."

It was Kelly's turn to laugh, "Oh Ben, I knew you were always my best friend in High School."

Ben grinned, "Always. So, Kelly, why don't you come back to America and meet my crew?"

"Sounds like a plan. I'll fly over and probably be there some time late tomorrow." Kelly said, "We could leave in about a week."

"Good." Ben nodded, "See you later." There was a knock at his apartment door and Ben answered, "Ian?"

"Poker?" Ian raised an eyebrow.

Ben sighed, "I always lose because I can't lie worth shit."

Ian laughed, "You should start working on that, Ben. You may need to be able to bluff some day." Ben frowned suddenly, "What is it?"

"Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England?" Ben asked.

Ian's eyes narrowed, "What of it?"

"Your accent. I never really asked where you were from." Ben shrugged.

Ian smiled, "What made you think of that?"

"An old friend called." Ben explained, "She's going to give us a ride to the arctic and will help us with finding stuff on the Charlotte. She's a pilot, you know, and her Dad was an admiral in the US navy."

"I see, but why did you ask about my accent?" Ian wondered.

Ben smiled, "Because she worked for a few summers in Sheffield."

"Really?" Ian sounded interested, "And where is she now?"

"She's flying over the ocean to come get us." Ben smirked, "I won't tell you where she lives now because she'll have to tell you that herself. She's getting here tomorrow."

"Indeed." Ian nodded and shuffled his deck of cards, "Poker?"

"Oh, alright." Ben sighed, "If I lose, I'll think up something drastic that you'll have to do for me."

"Shouldn't it be the other way around? The winner makes the loser…" Ian had an epiphany, "Oh, I see. Since you predicted your loss, you want me to compensate."

"Exactly." Ben nodded, "Let the game begin."

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When Kelly got off the phone with Ben she immediately started packing, "After all," She said to herself, "it's a trip to the arctic, and who knows how long I'll be there afterwards." She then remembered the man Ben had mentioned, "Now I remember seeing that name somewhere…" Kelly went to her lap top and typed in Ian Howe's name. She looked at the matches that came up, "Theft and conspiracy charges…" She read, "first time he got out on bail… second time on good behavior… who knows what this guy could have pulled off with out getting caught." Kelly concluded, "This guy can't be trusted." Next she tried searching for pictures of the man, but she found none.

A few hours later, Kelly took off in her jet to Washington D.C. Ben was there to meet her at the airport, "Kelly O'Bryan!" Ben grinned, "Welcome back!" He hugged her.

"It's good to be back." Kelly smiled, "The United States hasn't changed much since I left."

Ben laughed, "Sure it has. You just can't see it." He picked up her duffel bag, "What did you put in here? Bricks?"

She laughed, "BEN!"

"Come on. I got your room all ready for you."

"Don't you live in a three room apartment?" Kelly raised an eyebrow.

He smirked, "Yeah, but I'm being a gentleman and letting you have the bed. I'll sleep on the couch."

"How magnanimous." She smiled.

When they got to Ben's van, Kelly noticed a younger man with black hair typing away at his lap top computer, "Who's that?" She asked. _Please tell me it's not Ian._

"Riley Poole. Computer wiz." Ben answered as he hoisted her duffel bag into the trunk. Then he opened the sliding door, "Hey, Riley, there's some one I want you to meet."

"Shhh…" Riley put up a finger, "I'm almost done." He typed very quickly for a few minutes and then looked up, "What's up… Oh!" He smiled when he saw Kelly, "You must be Kelly O'Bryan." He leaned out to shake her hand, "Good to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too." Kelly smiled and shook his hand.

"BEN!" Riley looked to Ben, "Another British person?"

Kelly scowled, "I was actually born and raised in Virginia… I went to school with Ben. I've only spent the last twelve years in England."

"Oh… Sorry…" Riley gave her an apologetic look, "So, how do you know Ben?"

"High school." Kelly smirked, "He pretty much tutored me in History."

"Hey, guys, Ian's supposed to meet us at my place so we can discuss our travel plans." Ben said, going to the driver's seat.

"But I just got here! I'm exhausted!" Kelly glared at Ben, "You do know that me with no sleep is a BAD thing."

He laughed, "I know. I remember the lock in."

"Do I want to know?" Riley asked.

"NO!" Ben and Kelly said at the same time.

"Oooookay." Riley went back to typing on his computer.

They got to Ben's apartment and Kelly collapsed on the couch, "Wake me when what's-his-name gets here." There was a knock at the door, "Bugger! Why can't I have some sleep?" She made an attempt to look presentable.

"Hey, Ian." Ben said as he opened the door, "Come on in."

"I've set up my crew for the expedition, so we have nothing to worry about." Said the Sheffield accented man.

Ben brought Ian around the couch, "Ian, this is Kelly O'Bryan. Kelly, this is Ian Howe."

Kelly stood, "Nice to meet you." Her hazel brown eyes met hardened jade eyes. She stuck her hand out, but was unable to break Ian's gaze.

Ian smiled, "Pleasure's all mine." He took her hand and kissed it. Kelly couldn't help but blush. Ian chuckled, "Ben tells me you live in England."

"London." She nodded, "Although I spend my summers in Yorkshire… specifically Sheffield."

"Oh?" Ian's smile widened, "That's where I'm from."

"I know." Kelly smirked, "I could tell by your accent."

"Well," Ian ran a hand through his hair, "Let's get down to business, shall we? I know that Kelly would like some sleep after her long flight."

Kelly smiled, "Thanks." She then thought, _He's very charismatic. No wonder he got out of jail lightly when the charges were so high. He's not that bad looking either. SHUT UP! _Another part of her said, _He's a criminal._ The other side chimed in, _A hot criminal. Shut up! You're not in high school anymore!_

Riley joined them with a Coke in his hand, "My program is almost complete. It'll be ready in a few days." He sat down next to Kelly as Ian and Ben took the armchairs.

"My team is ready to go wherever you are." Ian flashed a smiled to Kelly.

She sat back on the couch, not taking notice to Ian's smile, "I need to refuel my plane and rest. I'll be one hundred percent in about a week."

Ian nodded, "I understand where you're coming from. The trip from England is a long one. Being the passenger is bad enough, but the pilot can't sleep." Then she heard him grumble, "I hate flying."

"Well, that meeting was short and sweet." Ben said, "I'll see you all soon."

Ian quickly scribbled something on a piece of paper, "If you would like company when Ben gives you an extensive tour of the capital, give me a call." Ian handed Kelly the paper with his cell phone number on it and kissed her hand again, "Farewell. Until we meet again."

Kelly nodded, "Good bye." And Ian left. She stared at the number, "A little forward, but whatever."

"A little creepy…" Riley said to her, "But that's Ian for you."

Kelly stretched, "Well, I did a search on him and he's a known criminal in England. Theft and conspiracy. I take what he says with a grain of salt."

"Well, I'd better get going too." Riley shouldered his computer bag, "I'll look into this 'Ian is a criminal' business and see what I can find. See you later!" He waved and left the apartment.

"So…" Ben came over to her, "What do you think of my crew?"

"And really bad eggs…" Kelly mumbled as she again collapsed on the couch.

He smirked, "Well, I don't know if I'd agree…" But she had fallen asleep by then, "Out like a light. I guess I'll take my room."


	2. Tours and Preparations

The next day Kelly awoke at noon.

"Sleep well?" A man's accented voice asked.

"BLOODY HELL!" She bolted up to see Ian sitting in an arm chair with a smirk on his face.

He started to laugh, "I apologize. I did not mean to frighten you, but with Ben's three room apartment there's really no where else to sit."

"Oh bugger all." Kelly grumbled and got off the couch, "I'm going to kill Ben."

"What about me?" Ben came in to the room, and Kelly sent him a death glare, "Oh…" His eyes darted from a half awake Kelly to a smirking Ian, and an apologetic smile lit Ben's face, "Sorry, Kells. Small apartment, no where else to put him."

"Whatever… I'm going to change." She went into Ben's room to find her things. She locked the door behind her, "Holy shit." She breathed. She had not expected to wake up to someone like Ian.

"Hey, Kells, if you need a shower, I put out a towel for you." Ben said at the door, "And your duffel bag is on the other side of the bed."

"Thanks." She replied. She took up Ben's offer and showered. As soon as she was once again presentable, she went back into the living room/kitchen.

Ian looked up from his poker game and smiled, "You look lovely."

"You're playing poker at this time of day?" Kelly asked.

Ben raised an eyebrow, "It's noon, Kells." He pointed to the clock, "You feeling up to touring D.C.?"

"Sure." Kelly leaned over Ian's shoulder and then looked up at Ben with a devious grin. She started mouthing what Ian had in his hand, "Two sixes, a queen, a jack, and a ten."

Ian somehow knew what she was doing and he put his cards down, "Game over, Ben. I can see that you're getting help." He put his cards in the deck.

"Awww… I didn't mean to ruin your game." Kelly teased.

Ian glared at her as he put Ben's cards in the deck, "I am very good at reading people, and Ben's expression changed when you leaned over my shoulder. I knew you were telling him what I had in my hand, and that's cheating."

"Well, yeah… Since Ben can't bluff worth shit." She smirked and went to the kitchen to make herself some toast while the men gathered up their bargaining chips. Once she finished her breakfast she looked to Ben, "I'm ready whenever you are."

"Do you mind if I tag along?" Ian asked, "I know Ben could enlighten me on some United States history."

"You know I will." Ben grinned, "Come on."

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They toured the capital and absorbed the information that Ben had, which was extensive. Ben, of course, thoroughly enjoyed himself and he could easily have been a professional tour guide for Washington D.C. He probably knew things about the city that even the tour guides didn't know.

"That was… educational as always, Benny." Kelly stretched on the couch when they got back to Ben's apartment.

"Yes, I never knew most of those things about the monuments here." Ian sat beside Kelly and stretched his arms across the back of the couch.

"That's because you didn't go to school here." She smirked, "I did, and I knew one third of that stuff."

"Exactly why I told you stuff that you wouldn't know." Ben grinned, "It might be useful in the future."

"We're going to the arctic. How will American history be useful to us there?" Kelly asked.

"We're looking for an American ship that has something to do with the treasure we're searching for." Ian explained, "It would be good to know the history of that country in order to find the treasure."

"True…" She sighed and leaned her head back, but as soon as she felt Ian's arm, she bolted straight again, "Sorry." She mumbled.

"It's ok." Ian gave her a charming smile.

"Now, I should also give you a little history lesson on the Masons." Ben said, "Just so you know what we're dealing with."

"Uhg…" Kelly rolled her eyes, "My family is PART of the Masons. Didn't you know that?"

Both men stared at her, "WHAT?"

"Yeah. My family goes way back in the history of England and Ireland." Kelly nodded, "I'm actually a mason." She stuck out her right hand and on her picky finger was her Masonic ring, "See?"

"Wow!" Ben exclaimed, "I never knew that!"

"Well, I… we don't really tell people openly." Kelly shrugged, "We're a bit secretive about things… Or at least my family is." Then she stood, "So do I have to stay for the lesson?"

Ben shook his head, "Although I bet you know some things about Masonic history that I don't."

"Which I can't share." She sighed, "I don't really get why, but I can't say anything, so I'll go." Kelly smirked at Ian, "Enjoy your lesson, Ian."

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Over the next week, Kelly spent much time with Ben, Ian and Riley. She and Riley talked about computers while she and Ian talked about good old England. However, what Kelly really never understood was why Ian was so nice and intelligent and then became a criminal mastermind in England instead of doing something good with his intelligence. She decided to ask him when the time was right.

Ben was attempting to cook something in the kitchen and Kelly was sprawled on the couch reading _Lord of the Rings_. Riley sat across the room typing on his computer, racing the clock to complete his tracking device for The Charlotte. There was a knock on Ben's apartment door and Kelly discovered Ian waiting outside.

"Hey, Ian." She had started picking up her American accent again by the third day at Ben's apartment.

"Ben said he was cooking dinner for all of us." Ian smiled at her, "May I come in?"

"Sure…" Her eyes darted back to Ben. His back was turned as he was concentrating on not burning their food, "But first, I need to talk to you."

"Ok." Ian cocked his head to the side slightly, his green eyes searched her face for some clue as to what she wanted to talk to him about.

She left a crack open in Ben's apartment door and stepped outside, "It's about your past." Ian's face visibly darkened, "I had recognized your name from the papers I read in London, and I thought I'd check out your name." He shifted, almost nervously as she continued, "Theft and conspiracy is what I found."

"I can explain that…" He said softly.

"I thought you would, but I just want to say…" She glared at him, "If you turn on Ben… Well… just use your imagination."

Ian swallowed, for he didn't know what this woman was capable of, "I have become a respectable man. Those charges were from my younger years when I was naïve and stupid. I wish I had not done all of those things… even if they were thrilling." He gave a slight and sheepish smile.

Kelly smirked, "Well, everything you do when you're young seems thrilling." Ian chuckled, "Shall we?" She opened the door.

"Do you trust me now?" Ian asked.

"A little bit more than I did." She gave a short nod as they entered Ben's apartment.

Ian smiled, "Good."

"Hey Ben!" Kelly called, "What's for dinner? I'm starving!"

Ben gave her a sheepish look, "I burned the food… I ordered out for pizza. It should be here in a half an hour."

"BENNY!" She glared at him, "Didn't you learn anything in cooking class in high school?"

"Nope." He chuckled.

"You should have let me cook." Ian said, "Because I could make us a meal right now."

Riley looked up from his computer, "I want pizza."

Ian sighed as he sat on the couch, "Alright. I just thought I'd offer."

"MY SEAT!" Kelly glared at him.

He arched an eyebrow at her, "You can't have the whole couch."

"Move!"

"No." He smirked.

"Fine. I'll sit on you." Kelly sat right on his lap. Riley glanced up and gave her a slightly disgusted look which made her grin evilly. Then suddenly, Ian took advantage of the opportunity she had set before him and wrapped his arms around her waist. He smirked when he saw her blush.

"That's disgusting." Riley grumbled, "And we're heading to the arctic tomorrow. Please tell me that whatever you're doing will stop."

"Most likely." Kelly said, "I'm very professional when I'm on the job."

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The next day, Kelly woke up before dawn and took a taxi to the airport. She got her plane all cleaned, and the airport had already refueled it, "Good. Everything's set for the trip." She looked at her watch. It was barely seven in the morning, but she dialed Ben's number anyways.

A groggy voice answered, "Hello?"

"Benny!" She said in a very cheerful voice just to make him mad, "Everything's ready for the trip."

"Uhg… What time is it?" Ben asked himself and paused, "Seven in the morning? Kells, why so early?"

"It'll take a few hours for us to get to The Charlotte from the place where we land." Kelly said, "And then we have to get those snow plows… And Riley's going to use his tracking device to guide us there. We'll be fine."

"Yeah, but do we have to go this early?"

Kelly laughed, "You really don't know anything about the arctic, do you?"

Ben paused, "Ummm… No… Not really."

"Well, right now, only about one fourth of the day is actually light, and if we don't get there at the right time, we could easily miss it." She explained.

"Oh, alright." Ben sounded as if he was getting up, "I'll have to call Riley and Ian. I highly doubt they're ready this early."

"You never know." Kelly grinned, "I'll see you in three hours, at the most. The ticket person will tell you what gate I'm at."

"Ok. Bye." Ben hung up.


	3. The Charlotte

Aoi Dragon: Well, here's the third chapter. And here starts the movie script. I also made some alterations and focused more on developing Ian's slightly different character and his relationship with Kelly and the rest. So R&R.

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The first to arrive were Ian and his crew of very thuggish looking men about an hour after she had called Ben. These men Ian had brought made Kelly want to shrink to the pilot's seat and stay there until Ben and Riley came, "He's more of a manager than a thug himself…" She muttered to herself about Ian.

"You ok, Kelly?" Ian asked her.

She looked at him almost coldly, "Just peachy." He arched an eyebrow, "You had to bring thugs with you."

"Thugs? Hardly." Ian raised his chin with a slight scowl, "If they so much as look at you in the wrong way, they'll be on the first flight back to England. I can promise you that." He then smiled, "And I keep my promises."

She nodded, only half believing him, "Right. We'll go as soon as Ben and Riley get here."

"WE ARE HERE!" She heard Riley yell. He was pulling six bags of equipment behind him.

"Wow! Did you bring the kitchen sink too?" Kelly asked, "We're only going there for the day."

"Haha. Very funny." Riley gave her a fake smile.

Ben smirked, "Be nice, Kells. All of this is equipment for Riley's tracking device. We NEED it."

"Ok, get it on the plane." Kelly said. As Riley and Ben passed, she pulled Ben to the side, "Look at Ian's motley crew… I don't like them. They're too thuggish for my taste. Don't be surprised if they turn on you. I don't know what he has promised these guys, but it has to be a lot."

"Ok. I got it all under control." Ben gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"I sure hope so." Kelly nodded.

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The arrived in the arctic with no problems from Ian's motley crew and they easily got the snow plows.

"I can come with you guys right?" Kelly asked, "I'd really like to see The Charlotte."

Ben looked to Ian, who shrugged, "Sure." They both answered at the same time.

Kelly grinned, "Thanks. I've always wanted to go treasure hunting with my best friend and two hot guys… and a motley crew of scary thugs."

"Sorry…" Ian mumbled, "They were the only people I could trust."

"Just keep them in line and you won't have any scorn from me." Kelly glared.

"They only respond to their master's voice." Ian smirked, "And that would be me."

The four of them piled into one of the snow plows. Kelly and Riley sat in the back while Ben drove and Ian got shotgun.

Ben suddenly went silent as he gazed out on the landscape of… nothingness in front of him. Kelly tapped him on the shoulder, "What are you thinking, Benny?"

"I was thinking about Hanson and Perry, crossing this kind of terrain with nothing more than dog sleds and on foot. Can you imagine?" He quickly glanced back at her.

"It's extraordinary…" Ian murmured as he also looked out the window.

"And I see vast nothingness."

"But there's so much history here!" Ben exclaimed.

Riley's computer started beeping and Ian turned to him, "Are we getting closer?"

"Assuming Ben's theory is correct and my tracking model's accurate, we should be getting very close. But don't go by me, I broke a shoelace this morning." Riley replied.

"A shoelace?" Kelly smirked, "Are you really that superstitious? If it was a black cat or a broken mirror, I'd understand, but a SHOELACE?" Riley shrugged, "Did you throw salt over your shoulder?" He shook his head, "IDIOT!" She whacked him as the two men in the front started laughing.

"So, should we go back home because of this bout of bad luck?" Ian asked with an amused look in his grey-green eyes.

"Or we could just throw him out here." Ben replied.

Kelly laughed, "Benny! Stop being mean! Riley's superstitious… I remember a certain someone who broke a mirror and thought they'd have seven years bad luck and tried to hole himself up in his room."

"Be quiet, Kells." Ben scowled.

All Ian did was laugh, "Well, that must be an interesting story." Riley's computer started to beep more quickly.

"We're here… or at least close to it." Riley said.

They all piled out of the two snow plows and started to survey the landscape, "Nothing… nothing… and more nothing…" Kelly sighed.

"There must be something." Ian was standing beside her.

"Buried, most likely." She shrugged, "But hey… what do I know… I'm just the pilot."

Ian chuckled, "Don't be so hard on yourself."

"HEY IAN!" Ben called in an excited voice, "You might want to start up the those plows!"

Ian rushed over to Ben, "Did you find it?"

"Obviously." Kelly said as she caught up with him, "Why else would he ask you to start up the plows."

"Point taken." Ian gave her a nod.

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After they pretty much plowed out the whole ship they went down into her belly.

"Creepy…" Kelly said as she followed Ben down into the crypt.

"Do not worry." Ian was behind her, "Nothing will come to harm you."

She looked back at him and smiled, "Thanks."

"OHH GOD!" Riley suddenly panicked upon seeing a frozen dead body.

"You handled that well." Ben smirked. They go down a little further, "This is it… The cargo hold." Ben whispered back to them at a door and he opened it.

As Ben tried to pry open the cargo hold door, Kelly looked around the room they were in. Frozen dead men were scattered along the floor, one had his eyes open and they seemed to stare straight into Kelly's soul when she saw them, "Oh… god…" She whispered and grabbed the first thing that she thought may have been a living person. Unfortunately, it was a frozen arm of a seaman that died in his sleep, "BLOODY HELL!"

She stumbled backwards into Ian, who caught her and held her as she trembled slightly, "Are you alright?" He asked softly.

Kelly quivered, "Let's just get out of here as soon as possible." She then looked around feeling a bit safer in Ian's protective hold. Ben got the door open and they entered the cargo hold. There were barrels… and more barrels…

"You think it's in the barrels?" Riley asked.

Ian let go of Kelly and went over to one of the barrels. He opened it and smelled its contents, "Gunpowder." He looked to Ben who was searching the other parts of the cargo hold.

"Riley, what are you doing?" Kelly glared at Riley who had unplugged one of the barrels and could not find the plug to stop the powder from pouring out.

"I can't find the cork!" Riley hissed as he searched through the spilled powder for the object.

"Why would the captain be guarding this barrel?" Ben thought aloud and then he opened it and dug through the gunpowder producing cloth, "I've found something." Ben came over to the rest of the group with a cloth in hand.

"What is it?" Riley asked.

Inside the cloth was an intricately carved ivory box and inside a pipe.

"Minas Tirith…" Kelly breathed as she referred to one of her favorite books, "And look, the horseman is Boromir." She smiled as Ben turned it around in his fingers.

"Do you guys know what this is?" Ben asked.

"Is it a billion dollar pipe?" Riley asked hopefully.

"It's a meerschaum pipe." Ian said, taking it in his hands, "Ah, it's beautiful." He then smiled at Kelly, "Much like how I imagined Minas Tirith."

"Look at the intricacy of the scroll work on the stem." Ben traced a finger along the stem of the pipe.

"So…. Is it a million dollar pipe?" Riley asked.

Ben shook his head, "No, it's a clue. Let me see that." He took the pipe back from Ian. Ben pulled the stem from the pipe.

"What… Don't break it!" Riley protested.

"He's not breaking it. It's supposed to do that." Kelly said, "Didn't you see the seam?"

"No…"

"We are one step closer to the treasure, lady and gentlemen." Ben smiled.

"I thought you said the treasure would be on The Charlotte." Ian said with a confused look.

"No, I said it COULD be here." Ben answered.

"And COULD and WOULD are two very different words." Kelly nodded. Ben pulled out a knife, "Ben! What are you doing?"

"Just relax." Ben pricked his finger and rubbed the blood onto the carvings on the stem of the pipe. He took a small scrap of paper from his pocket and rolled the stem on the paper, "These are Templar symbols." He murmured and then he read the script, _"The legend writ,_ _The stain affected,_ _The key in Silence undetected,_ _Fifty-five in iron pen,_ _Mr. Matlack can't offend_."

"It's a riddle…" Kelly said, "And for once the answer is not 'Mellon.'"

Ian smirked as Ben started pacing, "I need to think." Ben said and he started mumbling out loud, "'The legend writ, the stain affected.' What legend? There is the legend of the Templar treasure, the stain affects the legend. How? 'The key in silence undetected.' Wait! The legend, the key. There's something. A map. Maps have legends, maps have keys. It's a map, an invisible map. So now..."

"LOST!" Kelly gave a slight wave of her hand.

"Wait a minute…" Ian's eyes narrowed, "What do you mean invisible? An invisible map?"

"The stain affected could refer to a dye or reagent used to bring about a certain result." Ben explained.

"STILL LOST!" Kelly said again.

"Shush. Ben is thinking." Riley said.

Ben started thinking aloud again, "And that combined with the key in Silence undetected. The implication is to make what was undetectable detectable. Unless the key in silence could be..."

"Prison." One of Ian's thugs, Shaw, suggested.

"Albuquerque, see I can do it too. Snorkel." Riley joked and Kelly gave him a slight push.

"It's where the map is. Like you said, '55 in iron pen.' 'Iron Pen' is a prison." Shaw explained.

"Or it could be, since the primary writing medium of the time was iron gall ink, the 'pen' is... just a pen." Ben thought aloud again as he sat down, not really taking Shaw's suggestion seriously, "But then why not say a pen? Why... why said 'iron pen'?"

"Because it's a prison." Shaw muttered.

Ian went to sit next to Ben as he continued muttering, "Wait, iron pen. The ink does not describe what was in the pen, it describes what was penned. It was iron, it was firm. It was mineral, no, no, no, no. It was firm, it was adamant. It was resolved," Ben straightened, for this was getting somewhere, "it was resolved. 'Mr. Matlack can't offend.' Timothy Matlack was the official scribe of the Continental Congress." He explained to the others, "Calligrapher, not writer. And to make sure he could not offend the map, it was put on the back of a resolution that was transcribed, a _resolution_ that 55 men signed." There was a dramatic pause.

"The Declaration of Independence." Kelly said softly. Ben stood up and paced a bit more. There was silence throughout the room, "Not good." She said a bit more loudly.

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Aoi Dragon: Now please review! Please! Please! Please! Or the dead dudes from The Charlotte will come to haunt you forever!


	4. Betrayal and Escape

Aoi Dragon: Well, here's the next chapter. I have a little bit of a different take on Ian. I hope you enjoy this chapter. And remember to R&R!

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"Come on. There's no invisible map on the back of the Declaration of Independence." Riley argued for the logical.

"It's clever really. A document of that importance would ensure the map's survival. And you said several Masons signed it, yeah?" Ian looked from Riley to Ben.

Ben nodded, "Yeah, nine for sure."

"Learn that on our little tour, Ian?" Kelly almost teased.

"As a matter of fact, yes." He smirked and turned back to Ben, "We'll have to arrange for a way to examine it."

Ben sat back down and Kelly sat on the side opposite Ian, "This is one of the most important documents in history, they aren't just going to let us waltz in there and run chemical tests on it."

"Doesn't have to be chemical. It can be lemons and heat." Kelly said. Ben stared at her, "What? I learned SOMETHING in chemistry class that pertained to history. Seriously, after being YOUR science partner once everyone was fed up with your… 'passion'… I think I learned and still remember a GREAT DEAL of what I learned from you."

"We still can't do that." Ben sighed.

"What do you propose we do?" Ian asked, slightly frustrated with the lack of options on how to get to the treasure.

"I don't know." Ben put his head in his hand and Kelly started rubbing his back, as if he were a child having a really bad day.

"We could borrow it." Ian suggested softly.

"What?" Kelly glared at him, "NO! We can't steal it! We'd be in jail for a VERY long time!"

Ben nodded, "I don't think we could do that."

"Ben, the treasure of the Knight's Templar is the treasure of all treasures." Ian said.

"Oh, I didn't really know that. Really?" Ben glared at his friend.

"Ben, I understand your bitterness, I really do. You've spent your entire life searching for this treasure only to have the historical community treat your family with mockery and contempt. You should be able to rub this treasure in their arrogant faces, and I want you to have the chance to do that." Ian tried to reason with Ben.

"Yes, precious…" Kelly scowled, "And then we takes it for our own."

"Never!" Ian looked appalled at the accusation.

Her eyes narrowed, "I know your past. You COULD steal it with the right equipment, but do you know what you would lose? Do you know how much you could lose by trying this… escapade of craziness?"

Ian looked down, "Yes… I know I could lose lots of things." He looked up at her, "But we have to try."

"No." Ben said sternly.

"I really need your help here, Ben." Ian pleaded.

"You don't just walk into the National Archives. That piece of paper is guarded by more than just security guards… And the security cameras are ever watchful. This is folly." Kelly scowled.

"Stop quoting!" Ben glared at her, "I hate it when you do that!"

Ian chuckled, "I find it rather entertaining."

Ben shook his head in frustration and stood, "Ian, I'm NOT going to let you steal the Declaration of Independence."

"Ok, from this point on, all you're going to be is a hindrance." Ian stood as Shaw pulled a gun to point at Ben.

"BLOODY HELL! Where'd that come from!" Kelly gasped and took a step away from Shaw and Ian. Then her eyes narrowed and she stepped in front of her friend, "If you shoot him, you'll have to shoot me too. You can't shoot him without shooting me."

"What are you going to do? You going to shoot us, Shaw?" Ben asked as he put his hands in the air, "Well, you can't shoot. There's more to the riddle. Information YOU don't have… I do." Ben was almost taunting.

"Shut up…" Kelly hissed.

"I'm the only one who can figure it out and you know that." Ben said.

"He's bluffing." Ian grit his teeth.

"Ben can't bluff worth shit, you know that, Ian." Kelly glared, "Now shoot or don't shoot. It'll cost you either way."

"I won't shoot you…" Ian lowered his eyes and then looked over her shoulder at Ben, "Tell me what I need to know, or I'll shoot your friend." Shaw turned the gun on Riley.

"HEY!" Riley froze and put his hands up.

"What? NO!" Kelly stammered, "You heartless son of a whore!" Ian winced at the insult.

Ben lit a flare, "Move, Kelly." He pushed her aside.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Kelly growled.

"Saving our lives… Forcing his hand." Ben explained.

"This isn't Poker!"

"Look where you're standing." Ben told Ian and Shaw, "All that gunpowder. You shoot me or Riley, I drop this, we all go up."

"Ben!" Kelly and Riley said together with slight surprise.

"What happens when the flare burns down?" Ian taunted, "Tell me what I need to know, Ben."

"You need to know...if Shaw can catch." Ben threw the flare.

Lightning quick, Ian caught it and the breath Kelly had been holding released. "Nice try though, Ben." Suddenly the flare burst into flames on Ian's arm, "Shit!" He dropped the flare into the gunpowder and the room started on fire. He and Shaw retreat to the door while the other three stared through the wall of fire.

Kelly clenched her jaw and tried not to cry, "TRAITOR!" She yelled after him. She saw him freeze and turn back. His eyes were truly regretful as he saw her trapped behind the flames. He then squared his jaw and left the cargo hold.

"Riley! Kelly! Get over here!" Ben yelled as he pried at a door.

"What is this?" Riley asked.

"Smuggler's hold." Ben said as he freed the door, "Get in!"

"Yes, Han Solo." Kelly smirked, but Ben could see that she was holding back tears.

He put a hand on her shoulder as she passed him and she looked back at him with a soft smile. Then Ben turned to Riley, "Hurry!"

"I'm going. I'm going!" Riley jumped into the smuggler's hold and Ben closed the door after he climbed in.

There was a convenient tunnel at the bottom, "Follow me." Ben said. They ran down the tunnel and suddenly skidded to a stop, "That trap door must be somewhere…"

Kelly knocked on the wood and the trap door swung free, "See, told you I wasn't useless."

"This is no time to joke!" Ben pushed her and Riley through the door, "RUN!" They ran to the nearest snow bank, "Get down!" He pushed them down to the ground as the Charlotte blew sky high in a big explosion.

"Hate to break the news to you," said Riley, "but Ian took the snow plows."

"Damn that son of a bitch." Kelly scowled, "Well, I just hope he doesn't take my plane. If he does, I am going to sue him for all he's worth."

"Good idea." Riley smirked.

"I highly doubt he took your plane." Ben said, brushing the snow off his coat.

"Why's that?" She asked.

"He cares about you too much." He answered, "Didn't you see his face before he left?"

Kelly nodded, "You don't miss a thing, do you, Benny."

"Hey, look on the bright side." Riley said, "We make it back to the airport, we have a free ticket out of here."

That made Kelly smile, "You're right. Screw those guys. We'll probably be home before them anyways."

Ben smiled, "Let's get going."

"How far is it?" Riley asked, "The airport, I mean."

"There's an Inuit village about nine miles south of here. From there we can get a ride to the airport." Ben explained.

"Alright… So what are we going to do?" Riley asked.

Ben arched an eyebrow at him, "Start making our way home."

"No, I meant about Ian. He's going to steal the Declaration of Independence, Ben." Riley glowered.

"Riley's not that stupid." Kelly smirked, "He wouldn't ask a question about what you just explained."

Riley smiled, "Thanks, Kelly."

"No problem, kid." She smirked.

"I'm not a kid." He scowled.

"Well, then we stop him. It's that simple." Ben said, "Let's get going."

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As Ben had said, Kelly's plane was at the airport and fully intact. She flew them back to Washington D.C. and they arrived late in the night.

When Kelly and Ben got to his apartment, she collapsed on the couch finally allowing herself to cry freely. Ben came over and sat next to her as an attempt to comfort her, "He had no right." He said, "He's a screwed up man."

"I should have known." She looked at her friend, "I really should have known better."

"We all make mistakes." Ben smiled, "And it's not your fault. He left you to die and didn't even try to save you. If he did care about you that much he would have done anything to save your life."

"He'll regret it." Kelly's anger turned to fury as her Irish blood boiled, "He will regret his betrayal."

"Kelly," Ben tried to reason with her, "hear me out. There is a thin line between love and hate, and you've just crossed it." She glared at him, "I've had my share of affairs, and I have to tell you that it hurts just as much getting dumped as dumping someone." He then frowned, "And you two weren't actually dating. Although I could see that attraction."

Kelly wiped her eyes, "But he didn't have to turn on me. ME! Of all people… He promised that no harm would come to me. WELL GUESS WHAT IAN? YOU BROKE YOUR PROMISE!" She yelled to the air.

"Kelly… He's not with us anymore. And when we see him again, he will be our enemy." Ben said, "We have to focus on how to prevent him from stealing the Declaration of Independence."

She sighed, "I know. I'm sorry… I shouldn't be like this, but…"

"It hurts." Ben nodded, "I know. It's his fault for losing a great woman like you." He smiled.

"Thanks Ben." Kelly smiled and hugged her friend.

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Aoi Dragon: Yep, Ian still joined the baddies, but he has a good reason which will be revealed later. So please review... It's that little button in the left hand corner.


	5. Dr Chase

Aoi Dragon: Well, I'm disappointed in the people who have read this story and haven't reviewed. Oh well. Here is my update. I hope everyone likes it. Please read and review.

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The next day they tried to tell the FBI what someone was going to steal the Declaration of Independence, but they laughed in their faces.

"Is it really that hard to believe someone is going to steal the Declaration of Independence?" Riley asked, exasperated.

"The FBI gets ten thousand tips a week. They aren't going to worry about something they know is well protected." Ben said.

"Yeah, but I highly doubt they'd realize what kind of sophisticated equipment Ian has at his fingertips." Kelly said, "He's really rich, right?"

"Yeah. He pretty much funded the whole arctic trip." Ben nodded.

"But anyone that can do anything is going to think we're crazy. And anyone crazy enough to believe us isn't going to want to help us." Riley trailed off.

"We don't need someone who's crazy. But one step short of crazy and what do you get?" Ben looked at the two.

"Obsessed?" Kelly said with a smirk.

"Passionate." Ben scowled at her.

"Right…" She laughed, "Just like you."

"Be quiet and follow me." Ben led them to the National Archives Building. As they sat waiting to see Dr. Chase, Ben noticed a pamphlet on the end table, "Kells, look at this." He showed the paper to her.

"It's for a gala set for tonight." She read, "That would be the perfect time for…"

"Dr. Chase will see you now, Mr. Brown." The secretary said.

"Thank you." Ben stood.

"Mr. Brown?" Riley arched an eyebrow.

"His family doesn't get much respect from government officials." Kelly explained and then looked to Ben, "You never told me I should have an alias."

"You don't need it, but it's recommended." Ben said, "So if you want one, think quickly."

"Huh, kept down by the man." Riley said, then he saw Dr. Chase who was in fact a woman, "A very cute man."

Dr. Chase was on the phone, "Thank you." She hung up and turned to her guests, "Good afternoon." She said.

"Hi." Riley smiled.

"Abigail Chase." She shook Ben's hand.

"Paul Brown." Ben said.

"Nice to meet you." She smiled.

Dr. Chase turned to Kelly and she said, "Éowyn O'Conner." Dr. Chase arched an eyebrow and Kelly smiled, "My parents were big fans of _Lord of the Rings_."

"I see. Nice to meet you, Miss O'Conner." Then Dr. Chase turned to Riley.

"Bill." He said quickly without a last name.

"Nice to meet you Bill." Dr. Chase said and she sat at her desk, "How may I help you?"

"Your accent… Pennsylvania Dutch?" Ben asked.

"I'd say more of a German-ish… but that's just me." Kelly said.

"She's right. Saxony-German." Dr. Chase said.

"Oh." Ben frowned.

"You're not American?" Riley asked.

"Shut it, Riley. She's as American as I am." Kelly said.

Dr. Chase cocked her head to the side, "London, England?"

"Uh huh. But born and raised in Virginia." Kelly smiled.

"I see." Dr. Chase saw Ben reaching towards her button collection, "Please don't touch that."

"Sorry. Neat collection. George Washington's Campaign buttons. You're missing the 1789 inaugural though." Ben pointed to the empty space in the button collection, "I found one once."

"How very fortunate for you." Dr. Chase said, not really that impressed, "Now, you told my assistant that this was an urgent matter."

"Oh, yes ma'am." Ben, Kelly and Riley finally sat down. Ben leaned forward, a very serious look on his face, "I'm going to get straight to the point. Someone is going to steal the Declaration of Independence."

Dr. Chase gaped slightly and looked to Kelly and Riley who both nodded, "It's true." Riley voiced.

Dr. Chase reached for the phone, "I think I better put you in touch with the FBI…"

"We've been to the FBI." Kelly said, "They didn't believe us at all."

"Yeah." Riley agreed and he mocked the voice of the FBI agent, "They assured us 'the Declaration could not possibly be stolen.'"

"They're right." Dr. Chase nodded.

"My friends and I are less certain." Ben said, "However, if we were given the privilege of examining the document, we would be able to tell you for certain if it were in any danger."

"What do you think you're going to find?" Dr. Chase inquired.

"We believe that there is an encryption on the back." Ben said, shifting slightly.

"An encryption of what?" She asked further.

"Uh, a cartograph." He answered.

"A map?" Dr. Chase arched an eyebrow.

"Yes, ma'am." Ben nodded.

"A map of what?"

"The location of..." Ben shifted again and cleared his throat, "of items of historic and intrinsic value."

"A treasure map?"

"And that's where we lost the FBI." Riley mumbled.

"You're treasure hunters, aren't you?" Dr. Chase leaned forward.

"Aye me lassie." Kelly said in her pirate voice, "We be trying to find the national treasure, savvy?"

"Shush." Ben hissed. Then he looked to Dr. Chase, "We're more like treasure protectors."

"Mr. Brown, I have personally seen the back of the Declaration of Independence and I promise you the only thing there is a notation that reads original Declaration of Independence dated..."

"...of Independence dated 4 of July 1776. Yes, ma'am." Ben finished for Dr. Chase.

"But no map." She concluded.

"It's invisible." Kelly said, "You know… invisible ink…"

"Oh...right." Dr. Chase said, not believing them.

"And that's where we lost the Department of Homeland Security." Riley sighed.

"What led you to assume there is an invisible map?" She asked.

"We found an engraving on the stem of a 200 year old pipe." Ben said.

"That reminded me of Minas Tirith." Kelly added.

"O-owned by free Masons." Riley added.

"May I see the pipe?" Dr. Chase held out her hand.

"We, uh, don't have it." Ben said awkwardly.

Dr. Chase leaned back in her chair, an amused look in her eyes, "Did Big Foot take it?"

Kelly had had enough of this and she stood, "Yes, he did take it. He was about five foot eleven with sandy blonde hair and jade green eyes. He left us in the ship to die, and now he's going to steal the Declaration of Independence because he thinks we're dead." She started quivering with both anger and hurt, "Excuse me." And she left the room.

She collapsed into one of the chairs outside the room, "Are you alright, dear? It looks like you have a bad case of broken heart." The secretary said.

Kelly looked up at her and smiled lightly, "You could say that."

"I hope it works out for you, dear." The secretary smiled, "Just keep your chin up. There are other men in the world, and you are a beautiful lady. Enjoy it while you can."

"Thanks." Kelly smiled.

Ben and Riley came out of the office, "Let's go." Ben said to Kelly, "You ok?"

"Yeah. Fine." She answered.

They walked to the display room in the National Archives Building where the Declaration of Independence was on display, "Ben, if it's any consolation, you had me convinced." Riley tried to reassure his friend.

"It's not." Ben sighed as he looked at the document.

"I was thinking…" Riley paused, "What if we go public? Flash this all over the internet. It's not like we have our reputations to worry about. Although I don't think it'll scare Ian away."

"One hundred eighty years of searching and I'm three feet away." Ben stared at the glass covering the Declaration, "Of all the ideas that became the United States, there's one line here that is at the heart of all the others: 'But when a long train of abuses and usurpations pursuing invariably the same Objects, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.' People don't talk like that anymore." Ben said quietly.

"Beautiful...uh...no idea what you said." Riley said.

"It means that if something goes wrong, those that have the ability to take action have the responsibility to take action..." Ben trailed off, "I'm going to steal it."

"WHAT!" Kelly's eyes widened.

"I'm going to steal the Declaration of Independence." Ben declared quietly as he walked away.

"What, no, Ben wait!" Kelly said as she and Riley went after him.

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Ben led them to the Lincoln Memorial Building where they all sat on the stairs.

"It's been a long time since I've been here to really look at this place." Kelly said, "We only had a quick look on Ben's tour as we were running short on tour time." She looked up at the top of the monument and read the inscription, "'In this temple, as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the Union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever.'"

Ben smiled slightly, and Riley spoke, "This is huge. PRISON huge."

"Yeah, if we're not careful, we'll end up in the iron pen." Kelly nodded, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"You are going to prison, you know that?" Riley looked up at Ben.

"Yeah, probably." Ben nodded.

"That usually bothers people…" Kelly said, "Except criminals, like SOME people we know."

"Ian's going to try and steal it and if he succeeds, he will destroy the Declaration. The fact is the only way to protect the Declaration is to steal it." Both stared at Ben and he sighed, "It's upside-down. I don't think there's a choice."

"Well, if you put it that way, I kind of agree with you." Kelly nodded.

"ARE YOU BOTH INSANE?" Riley's voice got louder, "We're talking about the Declaration of Independence here! For god's sake it's like stealing a national monument… It's like stealing HIM!" He pointed to the statue of Lincoln.

"I KNOW!" Ben said, raking a hand through his hair.

"It can't be done. It's not that it shouldn't be done, it _can't_ be done. Let me prove it to you. Follow me."

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Aoi Dragon: If you review, I'll give you a cookie... Please review! I'll update sooner!


	6. The Gala

Aoi Dragon: And now, conintuing with the action packed story... Please R&R!

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Riley led them to the Library of Congress. A little while later, Riley had a pile of books, "Ok you two, pay attention. I brought you to the Library of Congress. Why? Because it's the biggest library in the world."

"Like we didn't know that already." Kelly sighed and Riley glared at her, "Continue."

"Over twenty million books and they're all saying the same thing: Listen to Riley. What we have here, my friends, is the entire layout of the Archives. We've got builder's blueprints, we have construction orders, phone lines, water and sewage." He turned some books towards them, "It's all here. Now, when the Declaration is on display, it's surrounded by guards and video cameras, and little families from Iowa, and little kids on their eighth grade field trips." Kelly snickered at the images that came to mind, "And beneath an inch of bullet proof glass is an army of sensors and heat monitors that will go off if someone gets too close with a high fever. Now, when it's not on display, it's lowered into a four foot thick concrete, steel plated vault that happens to be equipped with an electronic combination lock and biometric access and denial systems." Riley sat back proudly, "Prove me wrong."

"Alright." Ben said, "You know Thomas Edison tried and failed nearly two thousand times to develop the carbonized cotton filament for the incandescent light bulb."

"Edison?" Riley said, confused.

"And when asked about it, he said: 'I didn't fail, I found out two thousand ways how not to make a light bulb.' But he only needed to find one way to make it work. The Preservation Room." Ben handed Riley a book, "Enjoy. Go ahead." Riley stared at the book, "Do you know what the Preservation Room is for?"

"Delicious jams and jellies?" Riley joked.

"Hungry a bit, are you?" Kelly smirked.

"That's where they clean, repair, and maintain all the documents and storage housings when they aren't on display or in the vault." Ben explained, "Now, when the case needs work, they take it out of the vault and directly across the hall into the Preservation Room. The best time for us or Ian is to steal it, would be during the Gala this weekend when the guards are distracted by the VIPs upstairs."

"Huh...well, if Ian..." Riley looked over the book, "Preservation Room... gala... This might be possible."

"It might." Ben smiled.

"Definitely." Kelly nodded.

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Back at Ben's apartment, the three treasure protectors readied themselves for the night at the gala. They set up a clean room for examining the document. At the gala, Ben was to go in, get the Declaration and get out, while Riley – who had set up some high tech computer hacking stuff earlier – would monitor the security cameras. Kelly could not do much at this point but sit and wait. She would drive Ben to the gala in a limousine Ben had rented and then get into Riley's van after she ditched the limo elsewhere.

"Are we ready?" Ben asked Riley before they left.

"Game on." Riley nodded.

As planned, Kelly drove Ben to the gala and parked the limo far away. As she came out a new van pulled up behind the building. She froze, "Ian…" She whispered to herself.

Many men piled out of the van when she heard Ian say, "This is it!"

As soon as she heard his voice she fled, "Holy shit… Bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger." Kelly ran all the way to Riley's van where she threw off her chauffer clothes to reveal comfy capris, a white tank top and a white jacket.

"You ok?" Riley turned off his microphone as she scrambled into the van.

"Yeah…" She lied, and he frowned with skepticism, "Well, no. Ian's here."

Riley turned on his microphone, "Ben, Kelly just got here and she said Ian's here. So cut the chit chat and hurry it up."

"So here's to the men who did what was considered wrong in order to do what they knew was right." Ben said over the microphone. She heard glasses chink together and then the sound of massive swallowing, "Well, good night."

"Good night." Said a male voice.

"Good night." A voice Kelly recognized as Dr. Chase's voice said.

"How are things going for Romeo?" Kelly whispered to Riley.

"You know I can hear you." She heard Ben's voice in Riley's microphone.

Riley smirked, "Just hurry up, Ben. This had better work."

There was a pause, "It's working… it's working…" Ben whispered.

"What's working?" Kelly asked, "That fingerprint stuff?"

"Yeah." Riley nodded, "Unbelievable."

A few moments later Ben said, "We're in the elevator."

"Ok." Riley replied, "I'm going to turn off the surveillance cameras. Ready? In five, four, three...now."

"Aren't you supposed to go to two and one and then say now?" Kelly asked.

Riley shrugged, "I had to time it with the elevator." He looked at his computer, "Ben Gates, you are now the Invisible Man."

A moment later, Ben said, "I'm here."

"Give me the letters for her password." Riley said, "What do you got for me?" There was a pause, "Hit me with it."

"A...E...F...G...L...O...R...V...Y." Ben replied.

"That's so easy." Kelly interjected, "Valley Forge."

"How'd you come up with that?" Riley stared at her.

"Eleven letter password… nine letters… Two had to be hit twice." Kelly said, "And since she thinks like Ben, with those letters the only historical thing that matches is Valley Forge."

"Valley Forge? I...I don't have that on my computer." Riley said and shrugged, "O…K… You heard the woman. Valley Forge."

Ben typed the code and said, "We're in." As the door opened. He struck a dramatic pose in front of the camera.

"Hello." Riley said.

"Dork." Kelly smirked.

"I'm just going to take the whole thing. Just give me a second." Ben said and they see him slowly lifting the display case, "This thing is heavy."

"I've got about one…" Suddenly Riley's computer goes fuzzy.

"What happened?" Ben asked.

"I lost my feed."

"WHAT!" Both Ben and Kelly say together.

"I thought your were a computer ge…ni…us…" Kelly's eyes narrowed, "Ian."

"I'll try to hurry." Ben said as he lifted the display case into his arms, "I'll undo the screws in the elevator."

A few moments later, they both hear gun shots, "What was that?" Riley asked, panicked.

"Gunshots, genius." Kelly said, "Probably fired by Shaw. He's the gunman thug of Ian's team."

"Right." They heard Ben's voice, "I'm in the elevator and I'm unscrewing the display case."

"Good." Kelly yanked away Riley's microphone, "And hurry it up, will you?"

"I'm trying." Ben said.

Riley fumbles with some wires, still trying to figure out why he lost his feed, "Did you ever think that Ian's crew might hack into the system?" Kelly asked.

"Oh… right…" Riley stopped to think, "That's probably what happened. I hate that guy." Kelly frowned, "Well, I do. He's a traitor. You said so yourself."

"He's got to have a reason. He didn't have all the clues, so he's going to have to figure out what the 'key in Silence' is. Ben already knows that."

"Silence Dogood scans in his apartment, right?" Riley said.

"We take Visa." Said an unfamiliar voice on Riley's ear piece.

"BUGGER." Kelly swore, "Benny's been caught with the Declaration and they thought it was a souvenir. And he's going to have to pay with Visa."

"Not good." Riley grumbled, "Where are you? Where are you?"

"Stop talking." Ben growled, obviously not pleased. He appeared behind the van and shoved a long canister at Kelly, "Start the van." He ordered Riley.

"Ben, the... uh, the mean D-Declaration lady's behind you." Riley stuttered.

"Put this in there and be VERY careful with it." Ben pointed to a canister in the van.

"Of course." Kelly said as she hid the Declaration of Independence in the van.

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Ben closed one door as Dr. Chase came up, "Hey…"

"Oh, it's you. Hello." Ben smiled.

"Mr. Brown, what's going on? What's that?" She had noticed the fake Declaration in Ben's hand.

"A souvenir." Ben answered truthfully.

She looked at him skeptically, "Really?"

"Stop chatting and get in the van." Riley grumbled.

"Shush. He's flirting." Kelly whispered, and Ben suddenly shut the other door, hitting her elbow, "Bugger!" She muffled her swearing in her hand.

"Did you enjoy the party?" Ben asked Dr. Chase.

"Yeah." She said, but she was obviously preoccupied with something else.

Just then, alarms go off in the National Archives building.

"BUGGER!" Kelly said again.

"Oh my god…" Riley put a hand to his forehead.

"Oh, my god! You did not..." Dr. Chase glared at Ben, "SECURITY!"

"Stop!" Ben said.

"Give me that!" She grabbed the fake Declaration.

Ben backed up, "Take it, it's yours."

"SECURITY! Over here! Security!" Dr. Chase yelled.

"Get in the van!" Kelly hissed through the door and Ben ran to the passenger seat.

"Go!" He said to Riley.

"We can't just let her go!" Riley had no clue that Dr. Chase did not have the real Declaration.

"We can. GO!" Ben ordered.

"GO RILEY!" Kelly said urgently, "Wait." A familiar van caught her eye, "Not good."

"Yeah… Definitely not good." Ben said.

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Aoi Dragon: Next is the car chase! Please remember to review! It's that little button on the left hand corner!


	7. Chasing Decisions

Aoi Dragon: And now for the fun car chase! And, you know... they don't treat the Declaration very gently in this movie... I mean... it's 200 year old piece of paper... or animal hide or something! It should be deteriorating by the minute! (which it would in REAL life, but the movie has been Hollywood-i-sized... I so just made up that word. Haha!) Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter! And remember to READ AND REVIEW!

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Ian and Shaw tried to grab the fake Declaration from Dr. Chase as they passed her by, but instead got her inside as well. Suddenly, Ben, Kelly and Riley were all being shot at.

"HEY!" Kelly ducked, "Ian won't be happy if you…" A bullet grazed her arm, "OW! OW, OW, OW, OW, OW, OW!" She gripped her arm and looked at her hand, "BLOODY SON OF A BITCH!" She yelled.

Ian's van drove past them, "GO!" Ben yelled, "GO!" And they give chase.

"Once we catch them what are we going to do?" Riley asked after doing some crazy driving.

"I'm working on it." Ben said.

"Work faster. I don't want to get caught by anyone today." Kelly scowled.

As they turned a corner, Ian's van almost hit a garbage truck, causing Kelly to gasp, "Careful…" Then they flew through a construction zone and back onto the pavement, still not catching them.

"Skidding, skidding, skidding." Riley mumbled as they started to skid on the pavement.

Suddenly the back door flew open and Dr. Chase hung onto it for dear life, "Oh no…" Ben's face was horrified.

"Holy lord!" Riley said.

"Bloody hell!" Kelly agreed. She could clearly see Ian in the back of the van. He had not seen her yet, so she sunk down into the back of the van, "Can't face him yet. I must find his reasoning behind his betrayal." She murmured to herself.

"Get me next to her!" Ben ordered Riley referring to Dr. Chase.

Riley quickly moved the van into the on-coming traffic lane and pulled up closer to the Ian's van. A bus heading their way and blasted its horn, and Riley swerved to the left to barely miss it. Then he pulled back to the right after it passed. Ben tried to grab Dr. Chase's hand, but the truck's door started to swing back and Ian grabbed the document from Dr. Chase. The door came back, and Ben grabbed for Dr. Chase by the arm.

"Come on! Jump!" He ordered. She followed his orders, trusting him enough to catch her, "Are you alright?" He asked.

"No, those lunatics...they stole…" Dr. Chase started.

"You're not hurt are you?" Ben interrupted.

"You're all lunatics." Dr. Chase declared.

"Your welcome for saving your life from Ian and his band of 'oh, they're not thugs.'" Kelly said as she imitated Ian's Sheffield accent for the last part.

"You hungry?" Ben asked randomly.

"What!" Both Kelly and Dr. Chase stared at him.

Ben started again, but slower this time, "Are you alright?"

"Still a little on edge from being shot at, but I'll be okay. Thanks for asking." Riley answered from the driver's seat.

"I got grazed and I'm bleeding, but other than that, I'm good." Kelly said, still holding her arm as the blood trickled down her skin, "We'll just get some band aids when we get to your apartment. Or… wherever we're going to go now."

"Well, I'm not alright. Those men have the Declaration of Independence!" Dr. Chase exclaimed.

"SHE LOST IT!" Riley glanced back at them.

"No, stupid." Kelly said as she took out the long canister and handed it to Ben.

"See?" Ben showed Dr. Chase the real Declaration of Independence, "Ok? Now can you please stop shouting."

"Give me that!" Dr. Chase grabbed for the canister.

"You're still shouting and it's really starting to annoy. You'd do well, Dr. Chase, to be a bit more civilized in this instance." Ben said.

"Yeah, and when he gets annoyed, it's not pretty." Kelly nodded.

"If this is the real document, what did they get?" Dr. Chase asked.

"Souvenir." Kelly smirked, "Little Ian is from England. He can't tell the difference until it's too late! HA!"

"I thought it might be a good idea to have a duplicate." Ben explained, "Turned out I was right. Actually, I had to pay for both the souvenir and the real one, so you owe me thirty-five dollars plus tax."

"Genius." Riley smirked.

"Who were those men?" Dr. Chase yelled.

"Just the guys we warned you were going to steal the Declaration." Ben stated.

Then Riley taunted, "And you didn't believe us."

"We did the only thing we could do to keep it safe." Ben sighed.

"Verdammt! Give me that!" She grabbed for the canister again.

"You know something, you're shouting again." Ben stated.

"And she was swearing in German." Kelly pointed out.

Ben nodded, "Well, we probably deserved that."

"There is _not_ a treasure map on the back of the Declaration of Independence." Dr. Chase said with an exasperated sigh as she folded her hands and covered her face.

"And there was no chance anyone could steal this," said Ben as he shook the canister holding the Declaration, "either." He shook it again to make a point, "I leveled with you one hundred percent. Everything I told you was the truth."

"I want that document, Mr. Brown." Dr. Chase glared.

"Ok, my name's not Brown. It's Gates. I leveled with you ninety-eight percent." Ben looked down.

"Wait a minute," The name rang a bell in Dr. Chase's mind, "did you just say Gates?" Kelly looked away while Riley cringed in the front, "Gates? You're that family with the conspiracy theory about the founding fathers."

"It's NOT a conspiracy theory." Ben scowled.

"Per say." Riley said softly.

"I take it back. You're not liars...you're insane." Dr. Chase said.

Kelly smirked, "You said that already too. And you never actually called us liars… just lunatics."

Dr. Chase glared at her, "And I suppose Éowyn isn't your real name either."

"Well… I wish." Kelly smirked, "Faramir would make an awesome husband…" She swooned, "Although I always liked Boromir… But no. He had to go and get himself killed! Anyways, my real name is Kelly O'Bryan."

Dr. Chase scowled at her and turned back to Ben, "You can't seriously intend to run chemical tests on the Declaration of Independence in the back of a moving van."

"Well, we had a clean room environment with ET suits, air filtering systems and such back at Ben's apartment," Kelly started, "but someone had to be stupid and pay with a Visa to get his souvenirs."

"A credit card slip? Dude, we're on the grid. Do you...they'll have your records from forever. They'll have my records from forever. And Kelly's too!" Riley started panicking again.

"Calm down, Riley." Kelly said, "There's always another option. Right, Ben?"

"It's only a matter of minutes before the FBI shows up at my front door." Ben nodded, "We need those letters."

"What letters?" Dr. Chase inquired.

"You know what? Get off the road; take a right." Ben told Riley, not heeding Dr. Chase's question.

Kelly explained to Dr. Chase, "You know the pipe we told you about?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, on the pipe was something about 'the key in Silence' with a capital S on the silence part. I think you can figure it out from there." Kelly smirked.

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They reached the park for the Jefferson Memorial and stopped so Ben could think in an unmoving environment.

"By the way, I still need a band aid." Kelly told Ben, "I'm still bleeding, you know."

"There's some paper towels in the back. Didn't you know that?" Ben said to her.

"I need bandages! Not paper towels!" Kelly scowled, "I guess they'll have to do."

"You have the original Silence Dogood letters? Did you steal those too?" Dr. Chase had figured out what Kelly had told her.

Ben glared at her, as he was thinking hard about what to do, "Do you mind?"

"No, do you?" Dr. Chase glared right back.

"Yeah, I do actually." Ben glowered.

"He gets a little pissy when his thinking is interrupted." Kelly whispered.

"Too bad." Dr. Chase glared at Kelly.

"We have scans of the originals. Quiet please." Ben paced some more.

Not missing a beat, Dr. Chase asked another question, "How'd you get scans?"

"Oh, I know the person who has the originals. Now shush." Ben glared.

"Why do you need them? What's all this about 'the key in Silence'?" Dr. Chase asked.

"She really can't shut her mouth, can she?" Ben looked to his two friends.

"Riley, do we have any duct tape?" Kelly asked.

"Nope." Riley sighed.

That made Ben smirk a bit, and he then turned to Dr. Chase, "I'll tell you what, look. I'll let you hold onto this if you'll promise to shut up, please. Thank you." He handed the canister holding the Declaration of Independence to Dr. Chase.

"Ben, you know what you have to do." Riley said.

"I know what to do, I'm just trying to think of anything else we could do." Ben paced again.

"Well, not to be a, uh, nudge, but you do realize how many people we have after us. We probably have our own satellite by now." Riley said.

"I highly doubt that." Kelly said, "FBI like to keep some things low profile so the whole city doesn't go up at arms."

"Oh…" Riley trailed off and looked back to Ben, "It took you all of two seconds to decide to steal the Declaration of Independence."

"Yeah, but I didn't think I was going to personally have to tell my dad about it." Ben glared at Riley, who cringed a bit. He had never seen Ben so frustrated. Suddenly, Dr. Chase jumped up and started running, "Hey! Not cool! NOT COOL!" Ben caught her and grabbed the canister from her.

"LET ME GO!" She yelled.

He got the canister free from her and said, "Ok. You're let go. Go. Shoo." He waved his hand.

"I'm not going. Not without the Declaration." She tried to grab for it again.

Ben tore it away from her, "You're not going _with_ the Declaration." He swung the canister over his shoulder, for it had a convenient strap.

"Yes, I am. I'm not letting it out of my sight, so I'm going." She grabbed at the strap and Ben came forward with the pull. They were nose to nose.

"And the angst-y sparks fly." Kelly said to Riley.

"Wait. You're not going with us with the Declaration." Ben said, pulling away.

"Yes, I am." Dr. Chase pulled on the strap again and they were once again nose to nose.

"No, you're not." Ben said.

"Uh, Ben, we kind of let it slip as to where we would go after we're done here…" Kelly said, "So… she does have to come with us."

"Oh… Great." He muttered, "Come on." He said to Dr. Chase.

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Aoi Dragon: Please review! I would love it if you would review!


	8. The House of Gates

Aoi Dragon: Enter Patrick Gates. And Kelly finally gets some bandaids, although they don't help much. I also make fun of Sean Bean's hairstyle in this movie... I don't know why... If anyone has seen InuYasha... I thought "Hey, he kind of sounds like Sesshomaru... Fluffy... Hey, Ian's hair is fluffy... OOO!" Anyways, enjoy the chapter! Remember to R&R!

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The trip to the Gates house was almost an hour and a half from Washington DC. Kelly explained everything to Abigail as they traveled.

"So that guy was Ian…" Abigail said, "The way you talk about him makes it seem like you two were in love…" Kelly blushed, "You were!"

"Not exactly…" Kelly looked down, "I… I did like him. And Ben said that it was reciprocated, but… he betrayed us…"

"Well, there must be a reason." Abigail said, "If he did care for you, he wouldn't have let you alone in a ship that was about to explode if he didn't have good reason. He probably knew that Ben… or you were smart enough to find another way out."

Kelly smiled and nodded, "And since Ian is so smart… since he saw Ben, he probably knows I'm alive to."

"Don't lose hope, Kelly." Abigail smiled, "I'm sure you'll find out that what he did was for the better."

Kelly sighed, "I hope so. But with his past, I don't know if I can trust him."

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They arrived at Ben's father's house in Virginia in the middle of the night.

"Looks ok." Riley said, staring at the house.

"Park a few blocks away." Ben instructed.

Kelly nodded, "Just in case."

"How long do you think we've got?" Riley asked as he parked.

Ben loosened his tie, "I'm going to give them a couple of hours at least. I hope…"

"What do we do about her?" Riley indicated Abigail.

Ben looked to Kelly who shrugged, "She won't be any trouble." He looked to Abigail for confirmation, "Promise you won't be any trouble?"

With a sigh and a roll of her eyes she answered, "I promise."

"See?" Ben smirked, "She's curious." They slowly make their way to the front door and rang the door bell. It didn't take long for Ben's Dad to come and open the door, "Dad."

"Where's the party?" Patrick Gates asked with his usual humor as well as commenting on Ben's and Abigail's clothing.

"Hey, Mr. G!" Kelly came forward and hugged him.

"Kelly O'Bryan?" He hugged her, "How have you been? Been to England I hear."

"Yes, and I'm back for a while." Kelly smiled.

"You know, you don't have to call me 'Mr. G' anymore. Patrick is just fine."

"I'll always call you 'Mr. G,' Mr. G." Her smile widened.

"Well, uh, I'm in a little trouble." Ben said.

Patrick looked to Abigail, "She pregnant?"

Kelly gaped, "NO!"

"Well, if she is, are you going to leave the woman carrying your grandchild standing out in the cold?" Ben smirked and Kelly hit him on the arm, "What?"

"She does NOT look pregnant. She is NOT pregnant…" Kelly looked to Abigail, "Are you?"

Abigail blushed, "NO! I'm not."

Patrick let them inside and growled to Ben, "This better not be about that dumb treasure."

"Well, actually it's about some guy that dumped me for the dumb treasure." Kelly blurted.

Patrick arched an eyebrow, "Well, have a seat. Make yourselves comfortable."

"YOU STILL HAVE MY FAVORITE CHAIR!" Kelly almost screeched as she bounded like a teenager to the armchair.

Patrick laughed, "And there's some pizza… Still warm, I think."

"Dad, I need the Silence Dogood letters. Yeah, it's about the treasure." Ben said to his father.

Patrick gaped at his son, and then looked at the Riley, Kelly and Abigail, "And he dragged you three into this?"

"Literally." Abigail replied truthfully.

"We…" Kelly pointed to Riley and herself, "volunteered… Although I'm just the pilot."

Patrick shook his head and sighed, "You better un-volunteer yourselves before you waste your life."

"I'm already feeling the consequences of joining because of Fluffy." Kelly smirked.

"Fluffy?" Ben asked.

"Yeah, Ian's hair is fluffy, so why not insult him by calling him that?" She shrugged.

Ben shook his head and whispered to his Dad, "She fell for a guy on my crew who… wasn't the nicest in the world, and it completely broke her heart when he turned on us. She's going through the hate phase." Patrick nodded with understanding, "And knock it off, Dad."

"Sure, sure, I know, I'm the family kook." Patrick sighed, "I have a house, a job, health insurance. At least I had your mother, for however brief a time." Pain flashed through his eyes, "At least I had you."

Riley started eating some of the pizza and Kelly stole a piece right out of his hand, "HEY!" He glared at her as she took a big bite, but he said no more when he saw the icy daggers in her eyes.

"What do you have? Him?" Patrick motioned to Riley who had taken up another piece of pizza and paused mid-bite when Patrick motioned to him.

"Look, if you just give us the letters, we're gone." Ben promised.

"You disappoint me Ben." Patrick said with a sigh. Kelly winced at this. Patrick had always been proud of his son and now here he was saying that he was disappointed in his son.

"Well maybe that's the real Gates-family legacy: Sons who disappoint their fathers." Ben shot back with a glare; however there was pain in his eyes.

"Calm down, Benny." Kelly said softly, but he glared at her and she shut up.

"Get out. Take your troubles with you." Patrick was now hurting just as much as Ben.

"I found The Charlotte." Ben whispered, trying to make amends.

This caught Patrick's attention, "_The_ Charlotte? You mean she was a ship?"

"Yeah, and she was beautiful." Ben said as a smiled returned to his face. He glanced at Kelly, but she looked away. So he looked back to his father, "It was amazing, dad."

"And the treasure?" Patrick asked hopefully

Ben rubbed his chin, "No, no, but we found another clue that led us here..."

"Yeah, and that'll lead you to another clue. And that's all you'll ever find is another clue. Don't you get it, Ben?" Patrick threw up his hands and started to walk into the kitchen, "I finally figured it out. The legend said the treasure was buried to keep it from the British, but what really happened was the legend was invented to keep the British occupied searching for buried treasure. The treasure is a myth."

Ben sighed, "I refuse to believe that." He shook his head slightly.

"With all you've been through for this treasure… It would really suck if it wasn't true. It has to be true." Kelly murmured.

Patrick sighed, "Well, you can believe what you want. You're a grown person. What am I doing? Do what you want, Ben. Do what you want."

"He's probably right. You don't even know if there is another clue." Abigail said.

"LISTEN YOU!" Kelly's Irish blood was flaming, "I DIDN'T COME ALL THE BLOODY WAY HERE JUST TO DO NOTHING! Sure I'm just the pilot, BUT BEN'S MY BEST FRIEND! I don't know about you, but I'M going to stay with him to the end." Everyone stood there frozen as Kelly cooled off, "Sorry…" She mumbled, "It's all Ian's fault for being a lousy bastard."

Ben and Riley nodded, understanding and then Ben spoke, "Well, if there IS a clue I can think of a way where we could find out. And we can find out right now." He grinned.

Thus, Ben and Kelly – for they were the only ones who knew where stuff was in the Gates house – searched for all the things they needed to run the tests on the Declaration of Independence.

Kelly went down her list, "Q-tips… Check. Gloves… Check. Lemons… Check. Ben, why do we need lemons? Are you hungry or something?"

"In order to find out whether there is a clue on the back of the paper, we have to use some kind of citric acid." Abigail spoke before Ben could answer.

"Ok…" Kelly went back to her list, "Water glasses… Check. Dining room covered in those ugly plastic garbage bags… check." She looked up to Ben who was starting to put on one of the pairs of gloves, "We're all set."

"Good. Now…"

"Looks like animal skin." Patrick spoke up from the kitchen, "How old is it?"

Ben looked up, "At least two hundred years."

"Really? You sure?" Patrick asked.

Kelly couldn't help but smirk as Ben answered, "Pretty damn…"

"Now if this thing's in invisible ink, how do we look at it?" Riley asked.

"Throw it in the oven." Patrick said.

"NO!" All four of them almost yelled back at the same time.

Patrick blinked, "Ferrous sulfate inks can only be brought out with heat."

"Yes, but this..." Abigail started to say.

"It's very old." Ben continued, "This is very old and we can't risk compromising the map."

"You'd think they shared a brain or something." Kelly whispered to Riley who smirked.

Patrick shrugged, "You need a reagent." And he walked away.

"Dad, it's really late. Why don't you get some rest?" Ben asked, trying to get rid of his father.

"I'm fine." Patrick answered from the living room.

Ben shook his head and looked to Riley, "Lemons."

Riley handed him a lemon from the bowl and Ben started to squeeze it over the Declaration. Abigail suddenly grabbed Ben's hand, "You can't do that." She said.

"But it has to be done." Ben stared at her, slightly confused.

"Then someone who's trained to handle antique documents is going to do it." Her face inched closer to Ben's.

"Ben and Abigail sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G…" Kelly whispered to Riley.

"That's really childish." Riley said, but he couldn't help but smirk.

Ben finally gave in, "Ok."

Abigail took the lemons from Ben and a Q-tip from another bowl, "Okay, now, uh, if there is a secret message, it'll probably be marked by a symbol in the upper-right hand corner." She rubbed the Q-tip on the lemon and started gently wiping down the Declaration.

"That's right." Ben said, his gaze not leaving her.

"I'm so getting fired for this." Abigail mumbled as she continued her work.

"Look on the bright side, Abigail," Kelly said, "At least you could have the treasure?"

Abigail glanced up at Kelly, "You have some weird mood swings."

Kelly shrugged, "It happens when you have a broken heart and Irish mixed with who knows what else blood. You should have seen me as a kid."

"Don't remind me." Ben put a hand to his forehead, "I'm just glad I was one of your friends and not one of your enemies."

Their attention turned back to the Declaration, which remained blank. Abigail gave Ben a look that said, 'I told you so.'

"I told you. You need heat." Patrick reappeared in the dining room.

Kelly jumped, "BLOODY HELL! Mr. G, you know I hate it when people sneak up on me."

Patrick smiled, "Sorry about that Kelly. I forgot that you are very jumpy."

"Yeah, no thanks to Ben." She glared at Ben.

Riley cocked his head to the side, "Another story for another time?"

"Yeah." Ben nodded, "Let's try heat." He said to Abigail. They both leaned in on the Declaration and breathed on it. A faint symbol appeared and disappeared. Ben grinned.

"See?" Patrick nodded.

"We need more juice." Ben said.

Abigail nodded, "We need more heat."

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Aoi Dragon: Now, review... and I may put some Ian/Kelly fluff in here soon. :wink:


	9. The Next Clue

Aoi Dragon: Today is my birthday! Yay! 20 years old! I'm glad everyone is enjoying my fic. Soon there will be Ian/Kelly fluffy goodness. So R&R!

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Ben went to one of the bathrooms to find a hairdryer.

"OH THE ANGST!" Kelly pretended to swoon and Riley caught her, playing along with her making fun of Ben and Abigail, "Ow…"

"Sorry." Riley apologized, "What'd I do?"

"It's just a graze. I still don't have a band aid." Kelly said, "I really should go get that now, shouldn't I…"

"That would be a good idea." Riley nodded.

"I'll be right back." Kelly said as she ran up the stairs to the master bedroom where the Gates family first aid kit was. She found the biggest band aids she could, and put them on the bullet graze. She noted that the blood soaked through the band aids, so she wrapped some gauze around them, "It'll do for now." She mumbled to herself as she headed back downstairs.

"That's not a map...Is it?" She heard Riley ask.

She saw Ben writing down something as Abigail blow-dried the back of the document, "More clues. What a surprise." Patrick appeared again in the dining room, "How's your arm, Kelly?"

"Better. I couldn't do much with it… the blood is coming through the band aids…" She replied, "I guess I might have to go to the hospital to get the correct bandages."

"That would be a good idea." Patrick nodded and disappeared back into the kitchen.

"Are those latitudes and longitudes?" Riley asked.

Kelly took a look at what Ben was writing down, "I doubt that… there are three numbers here."

"That's the key?" Abigail said.

"Yeah. 'The key in Silence undetected.' Dad, can we have the letters now?" Ben turned to his father who had appeared in the dining room again.

"Will somebody please explain to me what these magic numbers are?" Riley asked, very frustrated.

"It's an Ottendorf cipher." Abigail said simply.

"That's right." Patrick said, pointing to her.

"An odd dwarf viper?" Kelly said sarcastically, "I didn't know those existed in normal Earth."

"No!" Ben whacked her, "An Ottendorf cipher."

"Oh, okay..." Kelly said rubbing the arm Ben had whacked. Luckily it wasn't her grazed arm. Then Kelly and Riley spoke at the same time, "What's an Ottendorf cipher?"

"They're just codes." Patrick sighed.

"Each of these three numbers corresponds to a word in a key." Ben explained, pointing to each number.

Abigail continued, "Usually a random book or a newspaper article."

Ben nodded, "In this case, it would be the Silence Dogood letters. So, look, the page number of the key text, the line on that page, and the letter in that line." He turned to his father, "So, dad, where are the letters?"

"You know, it's just by sheer happenstance that his grandfather..." Patrick started to explain.

"Please tell me Fluffy didn't get here first." Kelly scowled.

"Dad…" Ben frowned.

"…even found those. They were in an antique desk from the press room..." Patrick continued with out notice to either comment.

Ben was getting frustrated at Patrick's stalling, "Dad…"

"…from the New England Current. That's a newspaper." Patrick finished explaining.

"Dad, where are the letters?" Ben asked again.

Patrick finally answered, "I don't have them, son."

"FLUFFY TOOK THEM!" Kelly jumped up.

Ben ignored her because he knew Ian couldn't have figured out that clue. He couldn't have. But none the less he was as confused as most everyone else, "What?"

"I don't have them." Patrick repeated, "And I don't know who this Ian is, but I have not seen anybody other than you guys."

"Oh… good." Kelly sat again. Other than Kelly, there was complete silence in the room for a few moments.

Ben cleared his throat, "Where are they?"

"I donated them to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia." Patrick answered.

"At least it's close by." Kelly tried to be optimistic.

Ben nodded, "Time to go."

"I still can't believe it. All this time no one knew what was on the back." Abigail breathed.

"The back of what?" Patrick walked over and turned over the document. After a few unsuccessful protests, Patrick spoke again, "Oh, my god. Oh, my god."

"I know." Ben said calmly.

"Oh, my god. What have you done? This is...this is…" Patrick stuttered.

Ben nodded, "I know."

"This is the Declaration of Independence." Patrick said, his voice slightly panicked.

"Yes, and it's very delicate." Abigail said as if she were talking to a child.

"You stole it?" Patrick looked to Riley and Kelly.

"No." Kelly said softly, "And yes… Technically Ben stole it… but I don't think you'd want it in the hands of the OTHER guys… You'd have confetti by the time they were through with the document…" She sighed, "They're from England, mostly..."

"Dad, I can explain, but I don't have the time. Although Kelly pretty much summed it up beautifully. It was necessary, like she said. And you saw the cipher." Ben went over to his father.

"And that will lead to another clue. And that'll lead to another clue. There is no treasure. I wasted twenty years of my life. And now you've destroyed yours. And you pulled me into all this." Patrick said.

"Well, we can't have that." Ben said and looked to Kelly, "Duct tape.

"OF COURSE!" Kelly smirked, "All those times making duct tape sculptures for art class! Now THAT was a blast! I wonder where those went to…" She picked up the duct tape on the table, "Living room, Mr. G." Patrick sighed, "And don't forget some soda."

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On the way to the center of Philadelphia in Patrick's Cadillac Deville, Riley started muttering, "Your Dad's got a sweet ride." His eyes were closed as he was attempting to sleep.

"I think we should change clothes. We look kind of conspicuous, don't you think?" Ben glanced down at his tux and then at Abigail's evening gown.

"Just a little bit." Kelly said from the back, "Riley and I are fine just the way we are… aside from the blood seeping through my nice clean white jacket."

"I would love to go shopping too, but we have no money." Riley said in an almost whiny voice.

"Here, I took this from his house." Ben handed a little black book over to Abigail.

"AH! It's the little black book of DOOM!" Kelly threw up her hands causing Ben to chuckle.

"Not quite." He said, "My Dad usually tucks a few hundred dollars somewhere between those pages."

Abigail took a look at the title, "_Common Sense_… how appropriate." She tipped the pages down and out fell about four hundred dollars.

"When are we going get there? I'm hungry. This car smells weird." Riley started whining.

"Shut up, Riley. That's just going to get annoying." Kelly said. Not long afterwards, both Kelly and Riley had fallen asleep. Kelly had fallen on to Riley's shoulder and Riley leaned against the window, drooling slightly.

About three hours later, they arrived in Philadelphia. The sun had risen and Ben started looking for a clothing store.

"Urban Outfitters in the mall." Kelly muttered, only half awake, "I remember always going there before I became friends with you. I was one of the girly girls, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember." Ben nodded, "While we change, you and Riley can go and get the next clue."

"Ok." Riley nodded, "Does she HAVE TO come with me?" But Ben and Abigail had already walked away.

"Awww Riley, I thought you liked me!" Kelly teased.

Riley gave her a dirty look, "You like Ian."

"Jealous?" She continued to tease.

Riley suddenly turned away, "Let's go."

Kelly's jaw dropped, "Riley, sorry! I didn't know! Riley!" She ran to catch up with him and put a hand on his shoulder, "Riley…"

He glanced sideways at her, "What?"

She sighed, "I'm so stupid… I'm sorry. I didn't realize…"

"Realize what? That you're attractive? That you're funny? That you have a hot accent?" Riley almost snapped at her, "Well, now you know. And you know what? I bet you still like Ian… That son-of-a-bitch that broke your heart. I can't see why you'd still like him so much after what he did."

"I know he has a reason." Kelly said softly.

"He doesn't deserve a great girl like you. You're too good for him." Riley said and then frowned, "You're even too good for me… And I STILL like you."

"Oh Riley…" Kelly smiled softly, and sighed, "After what happened during The Charlotte episode… I don't think I'm ready to put anything into a relationship right now…"

Riley nodded, understanding, "Ok. I understand. I've had my share of break-ups, and I know what it's like to be betrayed. My last girlfriend was cheating on me with my room mate! Right under my nose!"

"That's harsh." Kelly frowned.

"Come on. Let's get that clue." Riley said.

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Aoi Dragon: Ian gets a small appearence in the next chapter! So, when you review I will consider it my birthday present!


	10. STOW

Aoi Dragon: Since people have been really cool about reviewing, I decided to upload another chapter. So enjoy! R&R!

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Outside the Franklin Institute, Riley smartly recruited some school kid to go inside and get the next clue. Kelly kept a _Sharpe_ look out for Ian and his crew. The school kid came back many times and Riley wrote the clue on his newspaper.

"'The vision to see the treasured past comes as the timely shadow passes in front of the house of Pass and…'" Riley trailed off once the kid went to get the last four letters, "Pass and what?"

Kelly spotted one of Ian's crew, "Hurry it up, Riley. The British are coming."

Riley saw a bus advertising the Liberty Bell, "Pass and Stow. Got it. Let's get out of here." He jumped over the wall and came face to face with Kelly, "Woah! Sorry."

"My fault." She blushed slightly, "Let's go." She glanced back to see Ian coming out of the Institute and scan around. One of his thugs spoke to him, but Ian just looked confused, "Duck, Riley. He's looking straight at the wall behind us."

"Shit!" Riley swore softly.

"Down on the ground and crawl." Kelly said, "I didn't go through ROTC for nothing." She and Riley crawled on the grass, making sure they had good cover before they stood, "To the black Deville, Riley!" She said in a super-hero like voice. Riley laughed softly.

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Getting the clue had taken all morning and a few hours of the afternoon. Back at Urban Outfitters, Kelly ran up to Ben almost yelling, "THE BRITISH ARE COMING! THE BRITISH ARE COMING!" Ben's eyes went wide and Kelly broke into a smile, "I meant just ME! I DO live in London, you know."

Ben then grinned and laughed slightly uneasily, "I thought you meant Ian was behind you."

"Oh, if he was, I'd punch him back to Sheffield." She smirked.

"Hey." Riley huffed.

"Did you get it?" Ben asked.

Riley nodded and read the clue as he turned the newspaper, "'The vision to see the treasured past comes as the timely shadow passes in front of the house of Pass and Stow.' Now Pass and Stow, of course, referring to the..."

"Liberty Bell." Ben and Abigail said at the same time.

"W-why do you have to do that?" Riley scowled.

"Because they like to feel smart." Kelly said, "Ben's done that since the seventh grade. He's even interrupted the teacher a few times, correcting him on his OWN history." She laughed, "He got detention a few times for doing that."

"Well, John Pass and John Stow cast the bell." Abigail explained.

Then Riley asked, "Ok. Well, then, what does the rest of this mean?"

"Ben's going to put his thinking cap on. Aren't you, Professor?" Kelly smirked.

"Wait, 'the vision to see the treasured past,' must refer to a way to read the map." Ben rubbed his chin.

"I thought the cipher was the map." Riley said with almost disappointment.

"No, the cipher was a way to find the _way_ to read the map." Ben answered and thought some more.

"And the way to read the map can be found where the timely shadow crosses in front of the Liberty Bell." Abigail said, walking towards Ben.

Ben nodded and smiled, "Crosses in front of the _house_ of the Liberty Bell. Independence Hall."

"Right, so timely shadow...it's a specific time." Abigail added.

Riley spoke, "Uh… what time?"

"Yeah, what time, Ben? We may need that." Kelly said.

"That was kind of obnoxious." Ben said to her and he started thinking out loud again, "What time? What time? Wait, wait, you're going to love this." He grinned at Abigail, "Excuse me, can I see one of those hundred dollar bills I paid you with?" He asked the cashier.

"No." She answered flatly.

"Well, uh, I have this diver's watch. It's called a submariner. I dive with it. It's actually quite valuable. You can use it as collateral." Ben took off his watch.

"Whatever." She opened the cash register and gave him a one hundred dollar bill.

"Thank you." Ben said politely, "On the back of the hundred-dollar bill is an etching on Independence Hall, based on a painting…"

"Hello!" The cashier was obviously irritated by this weird guy. Ben took the bill.

"Thank you." He said to her again and continued talking about the one hundred dollar bill, "in the 1780's, who and the artist was actually a friend of Benjamin Franklin's. It's wonderful." He grinned at the cashier.

"Fascinating." She said with great sarcasm, obviously not caring.

On one side of the bill was Benjamin Franklin. The other had Independence Hall, "Hold this." He handed the canister holding the Declaration to Abigail.

"Ok." She said, shouldering it. They both paused and she grinned, "I'm not going anywhere." He smiled at her and she at him before he turned to grab a convenient water bottle to look at the painting of Independence hall.

"Get a room!" She growled to Riley and he stifled a laugh.

"Now, I think that if we look at this clock tower, we may find the specific time." Ben moved the water bottle back and forth, trying to focus on the clock tower.

"What do you see?" Abigail looked tried to look over his shoulder.

"2:22." Ben said, although for the sake of actual facts the clock tower on the back on the REAL one hundred dollar bill actually says 4:10, but switch the minute and hour hand and voila! You have 2:22, and that's what Ben's one hundred dollar bill said.

"What time is it now?" Abigail asked.

"Almost 3." The cashier answered, looking at Ben's watch.

Abigail sighed, "We missed it."

"No, we didn't." said Riley looking to Ben, "We didn't miss it because...uh..." Ben and Abigail stared at Riley, "You don't know this? I-I know something about history that you don't?" Riley grinned.

"I'd be very excited to learn about it, Riley." Ben said smoothly.

"Well, hold on a second, let me just..." Riley relaxed his shoulders and breathed deeply, "let me just take in this moment. This is... this is cool." He glanced at Kelly and grinned, "Is this how you feel all the time? Because, you know...except for now, of course." He said looking back to Ben.

"Riley," Kelly said in a warning tone, "Don't piss off Ben. You don't want to see that. It's NOT pretty."

"Ok. Ok." Riley sighed, the moment of triumph ruined, "What I know is that daylight savings wasn't established until World War I. If it's 3 PM now, ok, that means in 1776, it would be 2 pm."

"Let's go." Abigail quickly walked towards the exit.

Ben retrieved his watch after giving the one hundred dollar bill back to the cashier, "Riley, you're a genius." Ben clapped his friend on the shoulder.

"And I'm just the pilot along for the ride." Kelly sighed, "And of course I did nothing."

"You… didn't… do… anything…" Riley stared at her.

"If it weren't for me, Ian would have this clue." Kelly said.

"Ok. I will give you some credit even if Ben doesn't." Riley smiled at her. Then he walked quickly to catch up with Ben and Abigail, "Do you actually know who the first person to suggest daylight savings was?"

"Benjamin Franklin." Ben and Abigail answer together.

"Damn!" Riley stomped his foot.

Kelly laughed, "You can't win them all, Riley."

At Independence Hall they walked passed the museum and took the tour of the historical site. They tried not to look noticeable when they jumped over the rope leading to the clock tower.

"Neat stuff." Said Riley as they got to the top of the tower, "Which bell is this?" He pointed to the current bell, which was not the Liberty Bell.

"It's The Centennial Bell." Kelly said, pointing to the date on the bell, "It apparently replaced the Liberty Bell in 1876, right Ben?"

"Yeah." But Ben was distracted as he was trying to spot the timely shadow.

"There is it." Abigail pointed to the top of the shadow, which looked much like it was pointing to something, of Independence Hall.

"Alright, I'm going to go down there and you three meet me in the Signing Room. Ok?" Ben said as he started his way down the stairs to get to the roof.

"Right." Kelly nodded, trying to take the leader position, "Let's go."

"This way." Abigail said, leading them.

"Bugger." Kelly frowned, but followed Abigail anyways.

Kelly heard Riley mutter proudly, "3:22… My idea."

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A few moments later in the signing room of Independence Hall Ben reappeared with a strange looking pair of bifocal lenses.

"What'd you score?" asked Riley as they walked up to him.

"I found this: Some kind of ocular devise. 'The vision to see the treasured past…?' Let me take this." Ben took the canister from Abigail and gently took it out.

"They're like early American X-ray specs." Riley said.

Kelly snorted, "Don't get any ideas." Riley blushed slightly.

"Benjamin Franklin invented something like these." Abigail said when she saw the glasses.

Ben looked up at her, "Uh, I think he invented these."

"What do we do with them?" Riley asked taking the glasses from Ben to stare at them.

Kelly smirked, "What do you do with glasses, Riley?"

"Look through them?" He answered in a question.

"Correct." She nodded. Riley looked through them at the ceiling, "What, you think there's something written on the ceiling?"

"Doesn't hurt to try." Riley shrugged.

"Here help me." Abigail ordered as she and Ben unrolled the Declaration.

"Wouldn't it have disintegrated by now?" Kelly asked as Riley handed her the bifocals. Abigail just shrugged.

"Woah…." Ben breathed.

"Blast from the past?" Kelly grinned.

"Yeah." He nodded, "The last time this was here, it was being signed."

"Ben, there's another tour coming." Riley said breaking the spell Ben was under.

He cleared his throat, "Right, turn it over."

"Careful." Abigail said.

"Spectacles." Ben held out his hand and Kelly gave the glasses to him.

Ben put them on, "Oh…. Oooh…."

"What do you see?" Abigail asked.

"What is it? Is it a treasure map?" Riley asked.

"I'm starting to think that the clues ARE the map…" Kelly muttered.

"It says 'Heere at the Wall,' spelled with two E's. Here, take a look." He hands the specs right to Abigail, completely skipping Riley.

"Oh, wow." Abigail breathed.

"Is it shiny?"

Abigail nodded, "And 3-D. How they did THAT in 1776, I have no idea."

"Why can't they just say go to this place, and here's the treasure, spend it wisely?" Riley threw up his hands.

Kelly looked out the window, "Fuck."

"LANGUAGE!" Abigail glared at her through the specs, but then she saw what Kelly saw, "Shit!"

This caused Riley and Ben to look up and say, "Oh no…"

Outside, two of the thugs from Ian's group paced searching for them.

"How'd they find us?" Riley asked.

"Probably because we left the clue 'S-T-O-W' behind after figuring it out before the kid came back." Kelly grumbled.

"Yeah, Ian has his resources… and he's smart." Ben said.

"Intelligence and resources aren't everything." Kelly said, "Fluffy couldn't even get a girl if he tried."

Ben frowned, and then said, "Well, we don't want them to have the Declaration or the glasses, but we especially don't want them to have them both together."

"Split up." Kelly said with a nod, "I'll be some kind of decoy… Act like I have something… You know?"

"Yeah." Ben nodded, "We separate the lock from the key. I'll take this and those." He took the spectacles and the canister from Abigail while she kept the document, "You guys keep that. Meet me at the car and call me if you have any problems."

"Problems? Like getting caught and killed?" Riley asked.

"Yeah… That would be a big problem." Ben nodded, "Take care of her." He said as he walked away.

"Which one?" Riley asked, referring to the two women and the document.

"I bet he means Abigail, but you can never be too sure." Kelly said, "Well, I'll catch you guys later." She walked out the door after Ben and sprinted in another direction.

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Aoi Dragon: Riley does not get the girl in this one. But I just remembered that Kelly has a little sister. I haven't decided on a name yet. Which means I've decided to write a sequel. So, please review! Thank you!


	11. Captured

Aoi Dragon: You people are so cool. :grins: And just because you're so cool and are nice and have reviewed, I'm going to post another chapter. This one is fluffy. And Fluffy is in it... and there's Kelly/Ian fluffiness... And I just had a very interesting idea for my sequel, but I won't tell you. Anyways, READ AND REVIEW!

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As soon as she exited the building, one of the three thugs spotted her and started chasing her, "I'm glad I jogged in my spare time." She mumbled to herself. Then she heard a gun shot, "Fuck! He's got a gun!" She glanced back at the thug and suddenly her food caught on a rut in the sidewalk, "Bloody hell!" She fell, scrapping her palms and knees fairly badly.

"Thought you could run?" Victor smirked as he pointed the gun at her, "I should kill you right now and get rid of the boss' distraction…"

"But then he'd kill you, am I right?" She tried her best to hide how scared she was at that moment.

Victor cocked the gun, "I SHOULD kill you here and now."

Kelly stared down the gun, trying her best to keep from shaking, "Well, you know, I'm just the pilot."

"That's what they all say." He sneered, "But since you could be worth something in the future…" He hit her with the butt of the gun and her world slowly went black.

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When she came too, her vision was extremely blurry. She shook her head, but that only caused little sparkling black dots to appear in front of her eyes, "Ow… Bugger… bugger… bugger…" She growled. Her wrists and ankles were duct taped together and she couldn't move very well, "BUGGER!" Kelly said more loudly.

"Shut up." Victor grumbled from the front driver's seat.

"Make…" She did shut her mouth then because she didn't want duct tape or any other type of gag in her mouth. She lay in the back seat, completely vulnerable. Had that guy…? No, she didn't hurt there… only her hands, her grazed arm and her knees hurt.

The passenger seat door opened, "We have the Declaration." Kelly heard Ian's voice and she tried to shrink and curl up into a ball. However, Ian still saw her, "Kelly…" He saw her scrapped knees and the dried blood on her coat, "Imbecile!" Ian glared at Victor, "You could have at least…" He gave a half growled sigh, "Out!" He ordered, "Look for the other car." Victor scowled and got out of the driver's seat. Ian opened the glove compartment and took out the first aid kit that practically filled the whole box. He then opened the back seat door, "Where does it hurt?" He asked softly.

Kelly didn't look at him, but grumbled, "Everywhere but my ear lobes."

"Did he…?" Ian swallowed.

"No. He didn't." A hidden smile came to her face.

Ian climbed in and closed the door for privacy as he opened the first aid kit, "I'm sorry…" He said softly.

"Me too…" She grumbled, "Why I ever… I don't know…"

"Can you sit up?"

"Well, with shiny black dots in my eyes and a throbbing head ache, yeah…" She swung her feet down to the floor.

"Let me get that…" Ian said, taking out a knife and cutting the duct tape that held her ankles together. Kelly slowly started to sit up, "Careful now…" He said softly. He held her for support and saw her wrists, "That will not do…" Ian said as he also cut that duct tape.

Kelly leaned against Ian as her head started throbbing, "Ow, ow…" She put a hand to her temple.

"Aspirin?" Ian asked.

"Please." She gave a hesitant nod. He took out a bottle and gave her two, "Thanks." She swallowed them without water.

He saw her hands and took a disinfectant cloth from the first aid kit, "This may hurt a little." Ian murmured as he cleaned the scrapes, "They won't need bandages, but try to keep them clean." Kelly gave a slight nod, "Now your knee is a different matter." He rolled up her capris, trying to avoid getting blood on them. Again he cleaned the deeper cut on her knee, "It doesn't look too bad." He looked up at her with a smile and then he frowned at the dried blood on her white coat, "Where did you get that?"

"The coat? Oh, I got it from my suitcase…"

"No, the dried blood." Ian tried to keep a straight face, but his green eyes glittered at her sarcasm.

"Oh… Shaw… or who ever was in your van when we were chasing you shot at us and a bullet grazed my arm." She explained.

"I'm sorry." Ian lowered his eyes.

"Yes, well, what can you expect from a criminal?" She scowled and Ian winced.

"That's not exactly why I left you on The Charlotte…" He said as he took off her jacket to examine the deep gash on her arm.

"Oh, that's right. You just want the treasure." Kelly glared at him.

Ian frowned, "This looks bad…" He cleaned it and put bandages on it and then looked up at Kelly, "You were right about the men I hired. They are thugs… only interested in money and they don't care who gets in their way…" He ran a hand through his sandy blonde hair, "Before I joined Ben on his expedition, I promised those guys that the treasure WAS on The Charlotte. They said that the consequences if I was wrong… they would kill everyone there, including me."

"But you're here." Kelly said.

"Yes, that's true." Ian smirked, "I found a loophole in the deal. The word 'if' is very powerful. So, I had to get out of there with out all of you. They would trust me to find the treasure, and only me. I had to do it to save your life. With the meerschaum pipe in my possession, I knew I could figure out the next clue." He sighed, "But then Ben pulled out the flare. And things became worse… I saw the smugglers' hold and knew you could get out, so I knew I could leave you there." He grit his teeth, "But when The Charlotte exploded I thought I had lost you and my best friend."

"You think of Ben as your best friend?"

"Yes… I do." Ian nodded, "When Ben showed up in the preservation room hall, I knew you were alive." He ran his fingers down her cheek, "I did not lose you…"

"Ian…" Kelly looked down, blushing.

"Kelly, I almost went insane when I saw the ship explode…" He murmured in her ear after embracing her again.

"Stop. They'll see and kill us both…" She hissed.

Ian tipped her chin up, "I don't care." He brushed his lips against hers. Suddenly his cell phone rang, "Yes?" He said slightly annoyed when he picked it up, "Dr. Chase… I see… Yes… Good… I would never hurt her… Exactly… Very well… It's a deal." He hung up, "I am to contact Ben. Apparently he was caught by the FBI." Ian smirked slightly, "I'll be right back, Kelly. And please, stay right here and don't do anything stupid. Shaw may look like an idiot, but he is VERY good with a gun. As soon as I come back we will have to move quickly." He shut the back seat door behind him and went to a pay phone down the street. The call wasn't long and soon he came back and talked to his thugs. Then he got in the passenger side door and Shaw got in the driver's seat, "Go." Ian ordered. Shaw screeched his tires and they were off.

"Where are we going?" Kelly asked.

"New York City." Ian stated.

She straightened, "Why?"

"'Heere at the Wall.' Wall Street and Broadway." He answered, "We're also getting Ben out of FBI custody with out losing anything. We go all the way there and the other car can pick up the other guest in Virginia."

"You're not kidnapping Mr. G, are you?" Kelly asked quietly.

"Who the hell…" Shaw grumbled.

Ian understood, "Patrick Gates. Yes, as leverage."

"So shut up." Shaw said.

Ian glared at his thug, "Do you want to go back to England?"

"What did I do?" Shaw asked, looking slightly surprised.

"Ian, don't." Kelly murmured, "No harm done."

Ian scowled and sat back in his seat, "Never mind. Drive."

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Kelly fell asleep in the back seat before they arrived in Virginia. By the time she opened her eyes, it was already day time. She awoke to find Patrick sitting next to her, "Good morning." He said.

"Hey, Mr. G." She rubbed her eyes.

"They got you too?" He asked.

"Yes. I looked over my shoulder at the wrong time and fell." She showed Patrick her hands, "I got some pretty bad scraps on my hands and knees, but Ian cleaned them up nicely, and he gave me some good bandages for the bullet graze on my arm."

"Is that the man…?" Patrick trailed off.

"Yes, Ian." Kelly nodded, "He explained the whole situation to me. It was us and him or just him. He knew we could figure a way out of the about to explode ship."

"Alright." Patrick said, "So he's not all bad."

Kelly paused and whispered, "He loves me…"

"How do you know?" Patrick asked. She blushed and touched her lips, "Ah. Don't get too cavalier."

Kelly laughed, "I'll try. Where is he, by the way?"

"He and a few of his men went somewhere to get Ben, as far as I know." Patrick replied.

"What time is it?" She asked.

"Take a look at my watch. I can't get to it." Patrick leaned forward and showed her his duct taped wrists, "This Ian guy must really trust you to keep you untied."

Kelly shrugged and stared at Patrick's watch, "10:15 AM. Not too bad for staying up all night the night before last…" She looked out Patrick's window and saw that they were right by Trinity Church. Ian was pacing back and forth with the canister holding the Declaration of Independence. A few minutes later, another black SUV pulled up and Ben stepped. He and Ian talked and Ben pointed to Trinity church. Ian pulled out the Meerschaum Pipe and set it on the hood of the SUV. They continued talking and then one of the thugs opened Patrick's door.

Ben's eyes widened when he saw his Dad, "Dad…" He mumbled.

"And Kelly, but you know that I would never hurt her." Ian said, "I care for her too much and she knows it."

Ben glared at Ian, "Then why do this? Why go through all of this?"

Ian sighed, "It's complicated. Kelly knows and she trusts me. Is that enough?"

Ben glanced back at his father and Kelly, "Alright."

"Is there anything else you wanted to tell me?" Ian asked.

"Trinity Church. We have to go inside Trinity Church." Ben answered.

"Good." Ian smiled, "Excellent. Well, why don't you ask Dr. Chase and Riley to join us? I'm sure they're around here somewhere." He motioned for this thugs to take his hostages out of the SUV so they could go inside the church. When Shaw started roughing Kelly, Ian came to her rescue, "I'll take charge of her." Shaw glared, but obeyed.

"Thanks."

"No problem. The sooner we get out of this mess, the better." Ian said softly, "You must sit in the back with the others, though. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Sit." Shaw ordered Patrick, "Sit down." He glared at Kelly.

"Let them go, Ian." Ben requested. Shaw cut the duct tape on Patrick's wrists.

"When we find the treasure." Ian answered.

"No now! Or you can figure out the clues for yourself. Good luck." Ben thrust the glasses case into Ian's chest.

"Benny, calm down." Kelly said, "We're just fine."

Ben looked back at her with a frown and Ian said, "Ben, I don't think you fully appreciate the gravity of this situation." He leaned forward, "They will shoot all of us when given the chance. I am currently the only one keeping all of you alive."

Riley and Abigail came in followed by two other thugs, Victor and Shippen. The thugs forced them to sit in the pews a row behind Patrick and Kelly.

"Are you alright." Riley whispered to Kelly.

She nodded, "Fine. Fine."

"Good. 'Cause if Ian or any of his guys did something…"

"Ian took good care of me." She said, "He didn't touch me and they didn't touch me… not in that way."

Riley sighed with relief, "Good."

Ben and Ian were looking at the map, "Well. It's...it's really quite something. It's uh...It really is remarkable. Take a look." Ben handed the glasses to Ian.

He looked through them, "'Parkington Lane…'" He read aloud.

"'_Beneath_ Parkington Lane.'" Ben corrected Ian.

Ian took of the glasses, with a confused expression, "But why would the map lead us here, then take us somewhere else? What's the purpose?"

"Just another clue." Patrick spoke up. Ben glared back at him and Patrick raised a hand to tell his son that he'd shut his mouth.

"No, you're right. Parkington Lane has to be here somewhere." Ben said, thinking.

"A street inside the church…" Ian was also trying to think.

"Not inside." Ben corrected again, "Beneath… Beneath the church."

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Aoi Dragon: So did you enjoy the fluffiness? And now you know why Ian's not all bad. He made a wrong choice in trusting a certain company, taking a loan and hiring thugs from that certain company... A BIG oops by Ian, there. So, soon they'll find the treasure. Not much longer! Only a few more chapters! Please review! Thank you!


	12. Down the Deep Hole

Ian motioned to his thugs to bring the others forward, "I'll watch her." Ian said, referring to Kelly. He put a hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her towards the stairs to the tombs below the church.

"This is so creepy…" She muttered.

Ian squeezed her shoulder, "Don't worry, I shall protect you."

"That's what you said on The Charlotte." Kelly said.

Ian flinched, "This time I am not lying… unless circumstances change for the worse again. I do not want to leave you unless it means saving your life."

"Alright." She nodded.

Suddenly Riley spoke loudly, "Hey! Par...Hey, I found it! … Him."

Ian and Kelly go to look at the tomb, "Ben!" Kelly yelled.

"It's a name…" Ian said softly as Ben came towards them.

Ben ran his hand over the markings on the tomb, "Parkington Lane. He was a third-degree master mason of the Blue Light..." Ian nodded to Victor and the thug bashed the front of the tomb with a big wrench, "HEY! STOP!" Ben said as he was pushed out of the way.

Shaw pulled out the wooden coffin and the others helped lower it to the floor. Suddenly the bottom broke and out fell the skeleton.

"Bloody hell…" Kelly said, turning away at the stench. Ian put a hand on her shoulder, "I'm ok… I just feel like vomiting…"

"Careful no one steps in him." Shippen said as they lowered the top of the wooden box down on the skeleton.

As Shaw shined his flashlight down the tunnel Riley said, "Ok. Who wants to go down the creepy tunnel inside the tomb first?"

"Oh god… I'm going to be sick…" Kelly trembled, "Do we have to…?"

"Yes." Ian said, "All except two of us will be going down. Phil, Victor, you stay here. And if anyone should come out without me..." He smirked, "Well, use your imagination."

"Let's hope they don't have a vivid imagination." Kelly muttered as one by one they crawled into the hole.

Luckily the tiny tunnel wasn't very long and soon they were able to stand again, "Got a light?" Ben asked Ian. He took out a lighter and set the torch Ben was holding on fire.

"Well, at least it doesn't smell terrible any more… Just musty…" Kelly said.

They went down some creaky stairs, and Ben helped some of the others, "Careful." He said as Ian and Kelly pass, "Watch your step." He told his Dad.

A few moments later they came to a huge chasm that went down into to what seemed the center of the earth.

Ian squinted, trying to make out the object in from of him, "What's this?"

"A chandelier." Ben said as the torch illuminated a bit of the chasm. He lit the chandelier and handed the torch to Ian. He handed it to Shippen and helped Ben lower the it so they could see more.

"Wow." Riley said.

"You said it, Riley." Kelly nodded to him.

"Look at the elevators." Ben pointed to several platforms held up by ropes.

Patrick stood next to him, "A dumbwaiter system."

"Why couldn't they have called it smart-waiter… dumbwaiter sounds dangerous." Kelly muttered. Ian heard her and smirked at her comment.

"How do a bunch of guys with hand tools build all this?" Shippen asked upon seeing the intricate design of the elevators.

"The same way they built the pyramids." Ben said, "And the Great Wall of China."

"Yeah." Riley said flatly as he looked down into the darkness, "The aliens helped them."

Kelly smirked, "Good one, Riley."

"Right. Let's go. What are we waiting for?" Ian tugged on Kelly's arm.

Shippen handed the torch to Patrick, as if to tell him to go first, "I'm not going out on that thing. Two hundred years of termite damage and rot…"

"Dad, do what he says." Ben said.

Patrick sighed and took a cautious step down the stairs. They creak with protest, but they don't break. He kicked a lose board out of the way, "Watch your step." He said to everyone behind him, "We're right under the Trinity Graveyard. That's probably why no one ever found this."

Suddenly the whole place shudders as something above them passed over. Everyone froze until the walls were calm again, "What was that?" Riley asked.

"Subway." Ian replied in awe. They were deep in the ground.

They continued only for a short while before Shaw took a bad step and the wood beneath him broke, "AHHH!!!" He yelled as he fell.

Ian watched, completely shocked, "SHAW! Oh, god… SHAW!"

Kelly hid her face in his shoulder, "Oh god…" She whispered. Ian swallowed, trying to regain his composure.

Then the stairs started collapsing around them. Riley, Ben and Abigail jump onto one of the elevators, but that also started to break as they tried to go down. Riley jumped back onto a lower part of the staircase, "Come on!" He yelled to Ben and Abigail.

Ian, Shippen, Patrick and Kelly were having their own problems. Shippen and Patrick had safely made it onto one of the elevators. The staircase crumbled beneath Kelly's and Ian's feet. Ian jumped and barely made it to the swinging elevator. Kelly slipped on the wood as she jumped and barely caught the elevator with one hand.

"Kelly!" Ian yelled, panicking that he was going to lose her. He lay down on the elevator, "Take my hand."

"I'm slipping…" Kelly grimaced as the wood cut into her fingers.

"Hold on!" Ian said, coming closer, "Don't you DARE let go! Grab my hand!"

Kelly swung her left arm up towards him, but missed his hand entirely, "You need to come out further…" But it was too late. Her grip on the elevator slid and she started falling.

"NO!" Ian lunged forward and caught her wrist. She looked up and saw that he was only half way on the elevator and Shippen was the only one holding him there. Slowly, Ian hauled her onto the elevator, "Oh god!" He hugged her tightly, "I thought I'd lost you…"

Kelly trembled, "Thank you…" And she hugged him back, "Thank you…"

"Is everyone alright?" Ben yelled for he, Abigail and Riley had recovered before they had.

"Fine." Patrick said, "Everyone is alive."

Shippen slowly lowered the elevator to where the other three were, "Get on." Ian said.

"Ian...it's not worth it." Ben said solemnly, "Look what just happened. We all almost died."

"Do you imagine any one of your lives is more valuable to me than Shaw's? We go on." Ian sneered.

Kelly frowned, "What about me?" She murmured.

He looked to her and whispered in her ear, "We still have Shippen here. I must keep up the act… I'm sorry."

"The status quo. Keep the status quo." Patrick said to Ben.

He nodded and the three got on the elevator. Shippen slowly lowered them to another tunnel.

"Now what?" Riley asked.

"This is...This is where it all leads." Patrick said.

Ben tossed the rope over a peg on the railing and tied it to get the elevator closer to the ledge. He then took the newly lit torch from Abigail and climbed off the elevator, "Ok, let's go." He turned to the others.

Ian and Kelly are the last off the elevator. As they travel down the tunnel, Ian kept a firm grip on her arm. He turned her towards him, "Kelly…" He murmured and kissed her hard. She responded and soon the kiss became more gentle. Ian broke the kiss, "I am so sorry that I dragged you in to this."

"I volunteered." Kelly smirked, "And I never expected to fall in love either…"

"Neither did I." He kissed her again, "Come on." They continued down the tunnel and emerged in a smaller cavern.

"What is this?" Riley asked, looked around at the empty cave.

"So where's the treasure?" Shippen asked Ben.

Ben looked around, dumbfounded and silent, "Well?" Ian asked.

"This is it? We came all this way for a dead end?" Riley asked, slightly frustrated.

"No…" Kelly whispered sadly.

"Yes." Ben replied.

Ian gave a disbelieving laugh and ran his hand though his hair, "This can't be happening…" He muttered.

"There's got to be something more." Riley said.

"Riley, there's nothing more." Ben said with slight disappointment.

"Another clue, or..." Riley continued.

"No, there are no more clues! That's it, ok! It's over! End of the road. The treasure's gone. Moved. Taken somewhere else." Ben yelled.

"Ben…" Kelly whispered, "All for nothing…"

Ian stepped forward, "You're not playing games with me, are you, Ben? Hmm? You know where it is."

"No." Ben said simply as he hung his head.

Ian looked to Shippen, "Ok. Go." He turned to Kelly and whispered, "It is here. I can feel it. There is a second exit. I will come back for you. I promise."

"Ian…" Kelly stared, "You're not…" She then nodded, understanding, "Alright." She pushed away from him and growled, "Again? You just DON'T change, Ian. I hate you! I don't know WHY I thought you had changed. I am such a fool." She walked to Ben who put a hand on her shoulder. She whispered to him, "There must be a second shaft…"

"I know." Ben nodded then he looked to Ian and Shippen who were heading down the tunnel, "Hey! Wait a minute!" Ben yelled, following them. Ian and Shippen got on the elevator and Shippen untied the rope, "Don't do this."

"You can't leave us here." Abigail added.

"Yes I can. Unless Ben tells me the next clue." Ian glared at Ben.

Ben shook his head, exasperated, "There ISN'T another clue."

"Ian, listen. Why don't you come back down here and we can talk through this together." Riley suggested. Ben put a hand on his friend's shoulder, trying to tell him that talking would not do any good.

Ian pulled out a gun and pointed it at Riley, "Don't speak again." Ian glared.

"Ok…" Riley muttered.

"The clue. Where's the treasure?" Ian paused, swinging the gun towards Ben, "Ben?"

Ben looked down and Patrick spoke, "The lantern."

"Dad…" Ben protested.

"The status quo has changed, son." Patrick looked to Ben.

"Don't…" Ben trailed off and then figured out what his Dad was doing. Ian slowly lowered his gun.

"It's part of Freemason teachings. In King Solomon's temple there was a winding staircase. It signified the journey that had to be made to find the light of truth. The lantern is the clue." Patrick explained.

"And what does it mean?" Ian asked.

"Boston. It's Boston." Ben sighed.

"The old North Church in Boston where Thomas Newton hung a lantern in the steeple to signal Paul Revere that the British were coming. One if by land, two if by sea. One lantern. Under the winding staircase of the steeple, that's where we have to look." Patrick said.

"Wasn't it Robert Newton that did the signal thingy?" Kelly pointed out.

Patrick blinked, "Oh, right. It was Robert Newton. My mistake."

Ben glanced at her and Ian said, "Thank you." And Shippen started to raise the elevator again.

"Hey, you have to take us with you." Patrick objected.

"Why?" Ian stared back at them, "So you can escape in Boston? Besides with you out of the picture there's less baggage to carry."

"What if we lied?" Patrick asked and Ian immediately pointed the gun at him again.

"Did you?" His eyes narrowed.

"What if there's another clue?" Ben recovered for his father.

"Then I'll know right where to find you." Ian lowered his gun again, "See you, Ben." Ian and Shippen disappeared up the chasm.


	13. Treasure!

Aoi Dragon:tear: This is the last chapter. I hope everyone has enjoyed my rewrite of _National Treasure_... and please tell me... for those who didn't already... if you want a sequel... I pretty much set it up... but it's up to my reviewers. So, anyways, enjoy and R&R!

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"NO!" Ben shouted up to Ian as he and Shippen disappeared..

"There's no other way out!" Riley yelled.

"Ian, come back!" Abigail also yelled, "Kelly, tell him to come back."

Kelly shook her head, "It's all part of a plan. I'll explain later." She went back in to the cave.

"We're all going to die." Riley said.

Ben shook his head, "It's going to be ok, Riley... I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"Ian said there has to be another passage out." Kelly said quietly to Ben, "He was trying to lead Shippen, Phil and Victor away from the tomb so we could get out safely."

Ben nodded, "I thought as much." He and Patrick started searching the room.

"Ok, boys, what's going on? The British came by sea. It was two lanterns, not one."

"But Ian's British." Kelly smirked, "And so are his thugs. Ian must know American history, but the chances of his thugs also knowing it is pretty slim."

Patrick nodded, "Ian needed another clue. So we gave it to him."

"It was a fake. It was a fake clue." Riley said as he had an epiphany.

Ben found something on the wall and muttered, "The All-Seeing Eye. Through the All-Seeing Eye." He knocked on the wall and heard a hollow sound.

"That means... by the time Ian figures it out, we'll still be trapped, and he'll shoot us then." Riley's voice got quieter as he continued talking, "Either way we're going to... die."

"No we're not." Kelly smirked as she watched Ben.

"Nobody's going to die." Ben turned to them with a grin, "There's another way out."

Riley's eyes lit up, "Where?"

"Through the treasure room." Ben said triumphantly as he pressed the button on the All-Seeing Eye. Part of the wall moved aside to show them a secret door.

They all passed through the door into another empty room, "No…" Ben said, looking around.

"Looks like someone got here first." Riley said.

"Ok, if this was supposed to be the biggest treasure in the world, I think I know of some that top this room." Kelly grumbled, but no one heard her.

"I'm sorry, Ben." Abigail put a hand on his shoulder.

Ben looked sadly at his father, "It's gone…"

"Listen Ben..." Patrick started to say, but Ben wasn't listening.

"It may have even been gone before Charles Carroll told the story to Thomas Gates." Ben said.

"It doesn't matter." Patrick said.

"I know." Ben nodded, "Because you were right."

"No," Patrick shook his head, "I wasn't right. This room is real, Ben. And that means the treasure is real. You're in the company of some of the most brilliant minds in history because you found what they left behind for you to find and understood the meaning of it." He said encouragingly, "You did it Ben. For all of us. Your grandfather and all of us. And I've never been so happy to be proven wrong."

Kelly smiled, "Way to go Ben." But it had a bittersweet taste. They knew the treasure had been real, but they could not get to it.

"I just...really thought I was going to find the treasure." Ben said, sitting on a ledge against the wall.

"Ok, then we just keep looking for it." Patrick said.

"I'm in." Abigail said.

"I'll take you to Timbuktu and back if it means fulfilling your dream, Ben." Kelly nodded.

Ben smiled, "Ok."

"Not to be Johnny Rain Cloud here, but that's not going to happen. Because as far as I can see, we're still trapped down here. Now, Ben, where's this other way out?" Riley glowered.

"Well, that's it. It doesn't make any sense." Ben frowned, "The first thing the builders would have done after getting down here was to cut a secondary shaft back out for air..."

Patrick nodded, "Right."

"...and in case of cave-ins." Ben added.

"And Ian also knew there had to be another way out." Kelly nodded.

"And he still left us here?" Riley sneered, "That bastard."

"Well, it was either get left here and get freedom or just get shot here where no one would find us." Kelly glared.

Ben then saw something on another wall and squinted at it as he took out the Meerschaum pipe, "Could it really be that simple?" He pulled the pipe into its two pieces, "'The secret lies with Charlotte…'" He whispered and put the pipe and stem into two holes and turned it.

A big gust of wind blew threw the room and another secret door opened. Everyone passed through the door and stood frozen at the shadows cast in the darkness as Ben came in last with the torch.

Abigail spotted a shelf with scrolls on it, "Scrolls from the library at Alexandria…" She breathed, "Could this be possible?"

"We found it…" Kelly said to Ben as he lit some kerosene oil with the torch illuminating the whole room. All five of them stare as the fire illuminated a huge room overflowing with gold and other treasures, "Woah…"

"Yeah… you said it…" Riley said and then tears came to his eyes.

"Riley, are you crying?" Abigail asked.

"Look…" Riley pointed to the other side of the room, "Stairs."

"Let's go." Ben nodded.

They carefully passed by all of the treasure to the stairs and crawled through another creepy tunnel. Ben went first and Kelly heard him ask someone, "Hi. Do you have a cell phone I could borrow?" Whomever Ben had asked was probably scared out of his or her mind.

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A few moments later, they were back in the sanctuary of Trinity Church and an FBI agent, Agent Sadusky, came towards them. Ben stood and handed him the canister containing the Declaration of Independence, "Just like that?" Sadusky asked.

Ben nodded, "Just like that."

"You do know you just handed me your biggest bargaining chip." The Agent said arching an eyebrow.

"The Declaration of Independence is NOT a bargaining chip." Ben stated, "Not to me."

"Have a seat." Sadusky said and they sat in front of the alter, "So what's your offer?"

"Oh...how about a bribe? Say, uh...ten billion dollars?" Ben said.

"I take it you found the treasure?" Sadusky cocked his head to the side.

Ben nodded and looked at the floor, "It's about five stories beneath your shoes."

"You know the Templars and the Free Masons believed that the treasure was too great for any one man to have, not even a king. That's why they went to such length to keep it hidden." Sadusky said as a Mason ring glittered on his picky finger.

"That's right. The founding fathers believed the same thing about government. I figure their solution will work for the treasure, too." Ben smiled lightly.

"Give it to the people?" Sadusky also smiled slightly.

Ben nodded, "Divide it among the Smithsonian, the Louvre, the Cairo Museum... There's thousands of years of world history down there, and it belongs to the world, and everybody in it."

"You really don't understand the concept of a bargaining chip." The Agent laughed slightly.

"Ok, here's what I want." Ben said, "Dr. Chase and Kelly O'Bryan get off completely clean, not even a little post-it on their service records."

"Ok." Sadusky nodded.

"I want the credit for the find to go to the entire Gates family with the assistance of Mr. Riley Poole." Ben continued.

"I have a request too." Kelly said coming forward, "Ian Howe has made some mistakes, but it was a question of life and death. He can give you information about the company he worked for and that his thugs currently work for. That would probably help greatly if you had that type of information. I know he wouldn't want to be blamed for everything he did."

"Alright." Sadusky nodded and turned back to Ben, "And what about you?"

"I really would love not to go to prison. I can't even begin to describe how much I would love to not go to prison." Ben said.

Sadusky sighed, "Someone's got to go to prison, Ben."

"IAN'S THUGS!" Kelly said.

"Yeah." Ben nodded, "If you've got a helicopter, I think I can help with that."

"Yeah." Sadusky nodded, "To…?"

"Boston. The old North Church." Ben said.

"I'm going with you, Ben." Kelly said, "I would like to identify Ian before they arrest everyone there."

"Ok." Ben nodded, "Let's go."

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Ben, Kelly and several FBI agents flew to Boston. They arrived in the dark of night and quietly surrounded Ian and his men.

"Do you see the guy with sandy blonde hair and green eyes?" Kelly whispered to Sadusky. He nodded, "That's Ian Howe."

"Alright." He spoke to his agents, "Move in. Arrest the three men and leave the blonde man for questioning."

The agents surround the four men and hand cuff three of them, "You are under arrest." Sadusky stepped out of the shadows, "We've got you on kidnapping, attempted murder... and trespassing on government property."

Kelly then came forward, "Kelly." Ian stared at her with a glimmer of happiness in his eyes, "I take it you found the treasure and the way out."

"Yes." She smiled and kissed him, "These agents are only going to question you about the people your motley crew works for."

Ian nodded, "Very well." He turned to Agent Sadusky, "Ian Howe." He shook the Agent's hand, "Sorry for all the trouble I have caused. I made the mistake of making a deal with a company that did not have my friends' best interests in mind."

"You're from England." Sadusky stated.

"Yes. I helped Ben discover what his clue meant and I funded… well… I should say the company funded his expedition to the arctic." Ian said, "That is when things went bad. I had told the company that the treasure WAS on The Charlotte, but that was a misunderstanding on my part."

"I see." Sadusky said, "Well, we will bring you to head quarters for questioning, and then you will be free to go at the request of Miss O'Bryan." Ian nodded and followed Sadusky to the helicopter.

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A month later, Kelly got a call from Ben, "Hey, Kelly, how's the new house in London?"

"It's great. It's not extremely historical like your mansion, and it's definitely not as big." Kelly smiled into her cell phone, "Ian likes it… I like it. It does have something to do with British history. The realtor said that it belonged to a family descended from old kings and knights and stuff."

"Cool." Ben said, "The reason I'm calling is because we're going to the museum exhibit opening in Cairo in a few days. The date is finally set."

"Great." Kelly smiled, "Is it ok if I bring Ian along…? I mean… we're officially dating now."

"Yeah, that's fine." Ben said, "Riley's disappointed that I got the girl and even Ian got a girl and he got nothing but a measly point one percent of the money from the treasure find."

Kelly laughed, "That sounds like Riley. So I'll see you in Cairo in a few days."

"Yeah. That sounds good." Ben said, "See you later."

"Cheerio." Kelly hung up. She sighed, "It's a good thing I'm waiting to tell Ben about the pressed scroll I found in that secret passage."

"Ben would go crazy if he knew about it." Ian said, "If it leads to another treasure, I'm sure Ben would love to try and find it."

"To bad we don't know old English… or what ever this language is…" Kelly held up the old piece of parchment that was now preserved in a plastic case.

Ian nodded, "If it is important, then we shall find out what it goes to."

Kelly grinned, "And I will tell Ben after the whole American national treasure thing blows over."

"Yes. A good idea." Ian nodded with a smile.

TO BE CONTINUED... Maybe... It's up to you, my wonderful reviewers.

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Aoi Dragon: And that's the end. :cries: Or is it? Hmmm... take a guess, for those I haven't told, at what the peice of paper says... So, please review! THANK YOU ALL!


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